REESE    LIBRARY 

1  Ht 

UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA, 

Received—  ^S%&  CUJ      i<\*JLt_ 

(J 
^ion±  ,\o.  2*  W-?  ^  0        She  If  _\  "o 


PHYSICAL   THEORY 


OF 


ANOTHER    LIFE 


BY    TH-A'U'TEOR    OF 

NATURAL    HISTORY    OF    ENTHUSIASM. 


cot  SK  TOVTCOV  rr\v  Tt  ainav 


U3STIVERSITY 


NEW-YORK: 

D.  APPLETON  &  Co.  200  BROADWAY. 
1836. 


G.  F.  HOPKINS  &  SON,  PRINTERS. 


PREFACE. 


DURING  the  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the  Author 
projected  his  literary  course,  a  great  change  has  taken 
place  in  the  relative  position  and  the  reciprocal  feelings 
of  the  religious  parties  that  divide  the  country.  Eight 
or  ten  years  ago,  and  even  later,  many  auspicious  indi- 
cations of  peace  and  union  met  the  eye  ;  and  an  enter- 
prise might  seem  hopeful  which  had  for  its  object  the 
removal  of  obsolete  causes  of  disagreement.  It  then 
seemed  as  if,  at  last,  ancient  misconceptions  might 
safely  and  successfully  be  dealt  with. 

But  an  unlocked  for  course  of  events  has  dissipated, 
for  the  present,  these  happy  presages,  and  has  given  a 
vehement  excitement  to  sentiments  which  the  lovers  of 
peace  had  fondly  believed  were  fast  disappearing ;  so 
that  it  would  now  be  idle  to  hope  for  a  dispassionate 
hearing  upon  subjects  that  touch  the  differences  between 
party  and  party. 

In  its  bearing  upon  his  own  literary  projects  and  en- 
gagements, the  Author  has  felt,  every  day  with  fresh 
force,  that  the  revolution  of  public  feeling  to  which  he 
has  alluded  must  render  the  prosecution  of  the  plan  he 
had  devised,  and  which  he  has  announced,  and  in  part 
executed,  peculiarly  difficult,  if  not  impracticable ;  as 
well  as  hopeless  of  a  beneficial  issue.  The  subjects 
included  in  his  plan  have  become  the  very  themes  of 


PREFACE 


eager  contention;  nor  could  he  believe  that,  while  satis- 
fying his  own  convictions  of  truth,  he  should  be  able  to 
avoid  the  taking  a  side,  and  the  ranging  —  or  the  being 
ranged,  with  one  body  of  Christians,  against  others.  In 
fact  he  has  found  himself  nearing  the  abyss  of  strife  ;  and 
he  steps  back  in  haste. 

The  present  state  of  ecclesiastical  excitement  will 
however,  no  doubt,  in  a  few  years,  subside,  and  a  calmer 
season  once  again  smile  upon  the  Christian  common- 
wealth. Should  he  live  to  see  the  happy  days  of  tran- 
quillity and  good  will,  the  Author  would  gladly  resume 
the  difficult,  and  as  he  believes,  important  subjects, 
which  at  present  he  lays  down.  He  now  returns  to  the 
favourite  and  peaceful  themes  of  his  earlier  meditations 
and  studies ;  and  is  most  happy  to  find  himself  in  a  re- 
gion not  exposed  to  storms. 

There  are  two  perfectly  distinct  modes  in  which  the 
influence  of  the  highest  truths  may  be  increased :  the 
one  is  to  remove,  so  far  as  it  may  be  done,  the  prejudices 
and  perversions  that  have  been  amassed  around  them. 
The  other  method  is,  forgetting  any  incidental  causes  of 
obstruction,  to  hold  forth,  in  its  native  brightness,  the 
substance  of  those  truths.  The  Author,  in  his  desire, — 
he  believes  a  sincere  desire, — to  promote,  to  the  utmost 
of  his  power,  these  inestimable  principles,  at  first  at- 
tempted to  accomplish  his  object  in  the  former  method  ; 
he  now  attempts  it  in  the  second. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 

Preliminary  Cautions,  and  Statement  of  the  Subject        9 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Conditions  of  Corporeity,  whether  animal  or 

spiritual     .......     26 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  probable  Prerogatives  of  Spiritual  Corporeity, 
as  compared  with  Animal  Organization  :  —  the 
first  of  those  Prerogatives  .         .         .         .44 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  second  and  third  supposed  Prerogatives  of  the 

Spiritual  Economy 55 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  fourth  of  these  Advantages  .  .64 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  fifth  and  sixth  hypothetical  Prerogatives  of  the 

Spiritual  Body 73 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  seventh  probable  Advantage  of  the  Future  Life     85 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  eighth  Prerogative,  according  to  our  Hypothe- 
sis, of  Spiritual  Corporeity  .  .  .  .93 

CEI  AFTER  IX. 

The  ninth  Point  of  Advantage  belonging  to  the  con- 
trast between  Animal  Organization  and  Spiri- 
tual Life 105 

CHAPTER  X. 
The  balanced  probability  of  Happiness  or  Misery, 

involved  in  the  Physical  Theory  of  another  Life  112 


Vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Probable  point  of  contrast  between  the  Animal  and 
Spiritual  Body,  in  the  principle  of  their  con- 
struction, respectively  ....   129 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Transition  of  Human  Nature  from  Animal  to 
Spiritual  Corporeity,  a  natural,  not  a  miracu- 
lous event  .......  136 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Survivance  of  Individual  Character,  and  of  the 

Moral  Consciousness  .         .         .         .         .150 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Correspondence  between  the  Present  and  the  Fu- 
ture Employment  of  the  Active  Principles  of 
Human  Nature  .         .         .         .         .         .160 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Introductory  to  some  Conjectures  concerning  the 
Correlative  Construction,  and  Reciprocal  Des- 
tinies of  the  Material  and  Spiritual  Universe  170 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  first  Conjecture  concerning  the  Material  Uni- 
verse, viewed  as  the  theatre  of  an  Intellectual 

System 183 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  second  Conjecture     .         .         .         .         .195 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  third  Conjecture         .....     232 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  general  ground  of  Conjectural  Reasoning  con- 
cerning what  is  unseen  or  future  .  .  246 

CHAPTER  XX. 
On  the  Advancement  of  Pneumatology       .         .     264 


UJTIVEBSITY 


&c.  &c. 


CHAPTER    I. 


PRELIMINARY     CAUTIONS,      AND     STATEMENT     OP     THE 
SUBJECT. 

THE  knowledge  of  a  future  life  we  may  easily  ima- 
gine to  have  been  conveyed  to  us  through  some  other 
channel  than  that  of  the  Christian  writings.  In  that  case 
we  should  have  felt  no  fear  of  culpable  presumption 
while  using  any  means  of  further  information,  concern- 
ing the  destiny  of  the  human  family,  which  might  have 
come  within  our  reach  ;  and  if  the  mode  of  our  obtain- 
ing this  knowledge  had  been  natural  and  ordinary,  we 
should,  without  scruple,  have  prosecuted  our  inquiries 
in  the  spirit,  and  with  the  freedom,  that  belong  to  other 
physical  researches. 

In  truth,  if  the  human  family  is  to  live  anew,  the 
future  stage  of  its  existence  offers  itself  to  our  curiosity 
as  a  proper  branch  of  the  physiology  of  the  species  ; 
and  it  only  remains  to  be  asked,  whether  we  are  in  pos- 
session of  any  sufficient  materials  for  prosecuting  the 
2  . 


10  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

subject : — if  we  are,  then  the  circumstance  that  our 
expectation  of  immortality  forms  a  part  of  our  belief  as 
Christians,  and  rests  under  the  sanction  of  divine  au- 
thority, need  not  bar  our  researches,  or  prevent  our  doing  . 
what  otherwise  we  should  certainly  attempt,  if  it  appeared 
that  a  careful  analysis  of  human  nature  might  actually 
enable  us  to  conceive  rationally  of  the  functions  and 
prerogatives  of  our  approaching  mode  of  existence. 

What  is  to  be  guarded  against,  as  well  in  respect  to 
the  sanctity  of  religion,  as  in  deference  to  the  principles 
of  good  sense  and  sound  philosophy,  is,  in  the  first 
place,  the  indulgence  of  the  imagination ;  for  it  is  not 
from  that  quarter  we  can  expect  any  aid ;  and  in  the 
second  place,  the  supposition  that  any  hypothesis,  formed 
on  a  subject  of  this  kind,  how  plausible  soever  it  may 
seem,  is,  or  can  be,  more  than  a  rational  conjecture  ;  or 
that  it  can  rightfully  have  any  force  in  disturbing  our  re- 
ligious convictions.  On  the  path  we  are  about  to  pur- 
sue, no  practical  evil  will  arise  so  long  as  we  carefully 
abstain  from  the  error  of  confounding  the  deductions  of 
reason  with  the  testimony  of  the  inspired  writers,  nor 
ever  allow  any  part  of  the  authority  or  the  serious  and 
sacred  import  that  attach  to  the  latter,  to  be  extended  to 
the  former.  As  the  impulse  of  a  "fleshly  mind"  to  in- 
trude into  "  things  not  seen,"  is  a  grave  fault,  and  espe- 
cially so  if,  on  the  strength  of  even  the  most  reasonable 
theory,  we  are  led  to  bring  into  question  a  particle  of 
that  which  the  text  of  scripture,  duly  interpreted,  requires 
us  to  believe. 

Yet  there  is  a  path  (as  the  author  thinks)  which  runs 
clear  of  both  the  errors  above  mentioned,  and  in  follow- 
ing it,  as  we  propose  to  do,  we  shall  at  once  discard  the 
gay  dreams  of  the  fancy,  fraught  with  the  images  of 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE. 

earth,  and  hold  every  thing  light  which  countervails,  or 
which  will  not  readily  consist  with,  the  sure  words  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles.  Our  conjectures  are  conjec- 
tures merely ;  or  even  if  in  any  instance  they  might  chal- 
lenge a  higher  value,  or  whatever  may  be  their  solidity, 
they  are,  at  the  best,  matters  of  science,  not  of  piety  ; 
nor  is  our  faith  in  any  way  obliged  by  them  ;  nor  can  our 
Christianity  be  implicated  in  the  remotest  manner  in  the 
establishment,  or  in  the  refutation  of  any  such  specula- 
tions. Let  them  be  confirmed,  or  let  them  be  confuted, 
still,  as  expectants  of  that  "  life  and  immortality"  which 
is  brought  to  light  by  the  gospel,  we  look  on  with  no 
solicitude  while  reason  attempts  the  arduous  path  that  is 
open  to  her  efforts. 

It  is  very  true  that  Christianity  has  suffered  damage 
by  vain  and  presumptuous  intrusions  into  its  mysteries  ; 
but  it  may  also  be  injured,  and  perhaps  in  a  more  fatal 
although  more  silent  manner,  by  a  cold  withdrawment 
of  all  attention  and  all  curiosity  from  the  high  themes  of 
meditation  which  it  involves.  In  fact  this  is  the  very 
danger  to  which  our  religion  is  now  exposed ;  nor  is  a 
too  eager  regard  to  things  unseen  by  any  means  the 
fault  of  our  times.  There  may  then  be  a  seasonable- 
ness  in  the  endeavour  to  engage  attention  upon  the  tran- 
quil but  vivifying  anticipation  of  another  life ;  and  it  is 
always  true  that  a  distinct  and  familiar  conception  of  it 
must  aid  us,  as  well  in  resisting  the  seductions  of  the 
present  life,  as  in  sustaining  its  pains  and  sorrows ;  nor 
does  all  the  help  we  can  obtain  of  this  kind  always  prove 
enough  to  ensure  a  due  repose  of  mind  amid  the  agi- 
tating alternations  of  hope  and  fear  that  attend  our  path. 

If  it  be  true  that  human  nature,  in  its  present  form,  is 


12  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

only  the  rudiment  of  a  more  extended  and  desirable  mode 
of  existence,  we  can  hardly  do  otherwise  than  assume 
that  the  future  being  must  be  so  involved  in  our  present 
constitution  as  to  be  therein  discernible ;  and  that  a  care- 
ful examination  of  this  structure,  both  bodily  and  mental, 
with  a  view  to  the  supposed  reconstruction  of  the  whole, 
may  furnish  some  means  of  conjecturing  what  that  future 
life  will  be,  at  least  in  its  principal  elements.  It  remains 
then  to  be  seen  whether  something  of  this  sort  may  not 
be  effected ;  and  in  attempting  it  we  are  not  left  totally 
at  large,  or  without  hints  of  the  path  we  should  attempt ; 
for  the  inspired  writings,  always  listened  to  where  they 
give  any  distinct  testimony,  and  narrowly  scrutinized  also 
in  every  instance  of  a  casual  allusion  to  facts  not  ex- 
plicitly revealed,  will  furnish  a  guidance  such  as  may 
save  endless  wanderings  in  a  false  direction.  Yet  in 
using  this  guidance,  the  conditions  that  belong  to  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind,  lest  we  should  be  led  astray  by 
taking  it  for  what  it  is  not.  These  conditions  must  then 
be  briefly  adverted  to  before  we  advance  further. 

Nothing,  it  is  manifest,  remains  to  be  desired  in  phi- 
losophy beyond  the  attainment  of  absolute  truth;  and 
therefore,  as  the  inspired  writings,  within  their  province, 
convey  truth,  and  truth  only,  it  might  seem  that,  on 
every  subject  to  which  their  evidence  extends,  we  have 
but  to  admit  it,  and  there  to  rest.  Yet  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  truth,  in  the  scriptures,  is  always  presented 
under  some  special  aspect,  or  as  seen  from  a  particular 
position,  or  as  bearing  upon  some  definite  human  affec- 
tion or  immediate  duty :  it  is  not  truth  in  the  abstract :  — 
it  is  indeed  a  pure  element ;  but  it  is  a  particle  only  of 
that  element ;  and  therefore  will  not  stay  the  inquiries 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE. 


13 


of  minds  of  philosophic  cast,  which,  by  instinct,  rise 
from  what  is  partial  to  what  is  general,  and  are  impelled 
to  pursue  the  universal  wherever  they  touch  particulars. 
Such  minds  may  indeed  (and  if  sound  they  often  will) 
see  good  reason  for  stopping  short  where  the  means  of 
acquiring  further  knowledge  are  totally  wanting;  nor 
will  they  reluctate  to  confess  their  ignorance  in  all  such 
instances.  Nevertheless  they  must  still  resist  the  in- 
terdiction of  those  who  would  require  them  to  profess 
that  such  particles  are  actually  the  whole  truth,  and  all 
that  could  possibly  be  known. 

There  is  to  be  observed  a  manifest  distinction  be- 
tween what  immediately  concerns  us  in  relation  to  the 
Divine  government,  which  it  is  indispensable  we  should 
well  understand,  and  what  relates  to  the  constitution  of 
the  invisible  world,  to  other  orders  of  being,  or  to  the 
future  physical  condition  of  the  human  race.  It  is  to 
subjects  of  the  former  sort,  chiefly,  that  the  inspired 
writers  direct  our  attention,  while  they  only  glance,  in- 
cidentally and  very  hastily,  at  subjects  of  the  latter  class. 
Not  only  do  they  abstain  from  conveying  truth  in  univer- 
sal and  abstract  terms,  but  they  very  rarely  touch  at  all 
any  theme  that  can  be  considered  as  a  proper  object  of 
scientific  curiosity.  This  is  now  well  understood,  and 
therefore  the  attempt  is  no  longer  made  to  discover  la- 
tent systems  of  physical  science  in  the  language  of  the 
Bible  ;  and  it  is  agreed  on  all  hands  that  although  Moses 
and  the  prophets  contradict  nothing  which  our  modern 
science  has  demonstrated,  it  formed  no  part  of  their  com- 
mission to  embed  a  scheme  of  the  universe  in  the  He- 
brew text.  And  if  physics  and  astronomy  are  not  to  be 
sought  there,  neither  are  metaphysics,  nor  psychology, 
nor  pneumatology  to  be  inquired  for  from  the  inspired 
2* 


14  PHYSICALTHEORY 

writers,  notwithstanding  that  these  subjects  are  much 
more  nearly  related  to  the  principles  of  religion  than  the 
former  can  be.  What  we  may  fairly  rely  upon  is  this, 
that,  in  their  incidental  allusions  to  the  constitution  or 
destinies  of  the  great  intellectual  system,  and  while  they 
are  passing  over  ground  where  we  have  no  other  direct 
means  of  information,  the  inspired  writers  never  lead 
us  astray ;  or,  when  fairly  interpreted,  give  rise  to  sup- 
positions that  are  altogether  unfounded,  and  contrary  to 
fact.  And  more  than  this  we  may  well  believe  that,  so 
far  as  they  go,  they  furnish  us  with  an  incidental  gui- 
dance, of  which  we  may  safely  avail  ourselves  while 
pursuing  inquiries  of  a  scientific  kind.  In  relation  to 
the  unseen  world,  scripture  is  to  be  listened  to  much  as 
we  might  listen  to  an  ambassador  from  a  distant  coun- 
try, who,  while  earnestly  discharging  the  special  duties 
of  his  office,  and  while  urging  at  large  the  political  and 
commercial  interests  of  his  sovereign,  might  make  many 
allusions  and  employ  many  phrases,  which,  when  col- 
lected and  attentively  considered,  would  serve  to  convey 
some  good  general  notion  of  the  climate,  usages,  and 
wealth  of  his  native  land. 

It  is  thus  then  that  we  propose  to  keep  an  ear  open 
to  the  apostolic  voice,  while  endeavouring,  by  another 
process  than  that  of  biblical  interpretation,  to  unfold  the 
rudiments  of  the  future  life ;  —  always  respecting  the 
sacred  canon,  and  ever  and  again  reverting  to  it  as  an 
infallible  means  of  keeping  ourselves  near  to  the  true 
path  of  inquiry.  And  with  the  very  hope  of  making  an 
auspicious  commencement,  and  with  the  view  of  start- 
ing from  solid  ground,  so  that  our  first  steps  at  least 
may  be  sure,  we  shall  devote  a  page  to  an  apostolic 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE.  15 

affirmation,  which  indeed  might  serve  as  the  text  of  our 
dissertation  —  "  There  is, "  says  St.  Paul,  "  a  natural 
body,  and  there  is  a  SPIRITUAL  BODY  :" — the  natural,  or 
animal  first,  and  then  the  spiritual ;  and  these,  while 
agreeing  in  certain  general  conditions,  are  contrasted  in 
some  important  respects  ;  yet  both  serve  as  the  vehicle 
and  instrument  of  the  higher  principle  of  our  nature. 

The  animated  argument  carried  on  through  the  fif- 
teenth chapter  of  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
stands  alone,  or  nearly  so,  in  the  body  of  scripture,  as 
well  as  to  its  subject,  as  its  style ;  for  we  meet  with 
nothing  elsewhere  within  the  inspired  pages  so  much 
resembling  a  physiological  disquisition,  or  any  thing  that 
goes  so  far  in  setting  before  us,  at  one  view,  the  natural 
history  of  man,  considered  as  destined  to  immortality. 
And  yet  this  argument  does  not  depart  so  widely  from 
the  customary  style  of  scripture,  as  to  be  otherwise  than 
tropical  in  its  terms,  and  popular,  rather  than  strictly 
scientific,  in  its  mode  of  reasoning  and  its  illustrations. 
While,  therefore,  it  may  suggest  the  course  we  should 
pursue,  and  prevent  our  setting  out  in  a  wrong  direction, 
it  cannot  be  held  to  supersede  the  sort  of  inquiry  which 
we  have  now  before  us. 

The  leading  affirmation  of  St.  Paul's  argument  we 
may  consider  to  be  the  one  just  quoted,  and  the  import 
of  which  we  may  properly  inquire  into,  as  a  preliminary 
to  the  statement  of  our  physical  theory  of  another  life. 

"  THERE  is  A  SPIRITUAL  BODY."  It  is  then  BODY, 
and  not  mere  spirit,  to  which  the  reasoning  of  the  apostle 
relates.  He  is  treating  of  the  transition  which  human 
nature  is  destined  to  pass  through,  from  one  condition  of 
corporeal  existence  to  another ;  and  he  speaks  of  the  lay- 


16  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

ing  down  a  body  that  is  gross,  or  at  least  infirm,  perish- 
able, and  ignoble,  and  the  taking  up  a  body  that  shall  be 
potent,  illustrious,  and  permanent.  For  aught  we  know, 
there  may  be  a  pure  immateriality,  or  an  absolute  separa- 
tion from  matter;  and  moreover,  some  such  state  of 
sheer  incorporeity  may  perhaps  await  the  human  race  in 
some  stage  of  its  progress  toward  its  ultimate  condition ; 
but  no  abstraction  of  this  kind  is  either  affirmed  or  im- 
plied in  the  passage  before  us  ;  nor  does  it  enter  into  St. 
Paul's  argument,  even  by  so  much  as  a  passing  allusion, 
or  a  solitary  phrase,  thrown  in  to  save  a  collateral  truth. 
We  should  be  far  indeed  from  thence  inferring  that  an 
immaterial  state,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term,  is  not 
in  itself  possible,  or  may  not  actually  have  to  be  passed 
through  by  mankind ;  for  arguments  drawn  from  nega- 
tive evidence  are  always  extremely  fallacious.  Never- 
theless, so  far  as  this  passage  goes,  the  doctrine  of  an  ab- 
solute incorporeity,  as  possible  to  human  nature,  may  be 
true,  or  it  may  not.  The  grand,  or  foremost  principle  of 
Christianity, —  namely,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  does 
not  demand  any  such  doctrine,  nor  does  the  apostle  (who 
was  personally  well  qualified  to  judge  of  the  hidden,  yet 
real  connexion  of  principles)  deem  it  necessary  to  his 
conclusion,  or  at  all  pertinent  to  his  subject  to  affirm  it. 
If  questioned  on  the  point,  whether  the  human  soul  is 
ever  actually  and  entirely  separated  from  matter,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  he  would  have  dismissed  the  inquiry  as 
altogether  irrelevant  to  religion,  and  as  a  theme  proper  to 
be  discussed  among  the  professors  of  abstruse  science, 
with  which  he,  as  a  teacher  of  Christianity,  had  nothing 
to  do. 

That  which  Christianity  requires  us  to  believe  is  the 
actual  survivance  of  our  personal  consciousness  embo- 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  17 

died,  and  the  perpetuity  of  our  sense  of  good  and  evil, 
and  our  continued  sensibility  of  pain  arid  pleasure,  and 
the  unbroken  recollection,  in  another  life,  of  the  events 
and  affections  of  the  present  state.  What  Christianity 
decisively  affirms  is,  that  the  LIFE, —  moral,  intellectual, 
and  active,  or  corporeal,  —  is  not  commensurate  with,  or 
dependent  upon,  animal  organization ;  but  that  it  may, 
and  that  it  will  spring  up  anew  from  the  ruins  of  its  pre- 
sent habitation.  "  Destroy  this  body,"  and  the  man  still 
lives  :  but  whether  he  might  live  immaterially,  is  a  mere 
question  of  philosophy,  which  the  inspired  writers  do  not 
care  to  decide.  In  almost  all  instances  it  is  with  facts, 
rather  than  with  abstruse  principles,  that  they  have  to 
do ;  and  in  relation  to  our  present  subject,  after  having 
peremptorily  affirmed  that  human  nature  is  to  survive  in 
another  state,  and  is  to  rise  embodied  from  the  ashes  of 
its  present  animal  organization,  St.  Paul  leaves  specula- 
tion at  large,  neither  denying  or  affirming  any  hypothe- 
sis that  may  consist  with  the  fact  which  alone  is  impor- 
tant with  our  religious  belief. 

Let  it  then  be  distinctly  kept  in  view",  that  although 
the  essential  independence  of  mind  and  matter,  or  the  ab- 
stract possibility  of  the  former  existing  apart  from  cor- 
poreal life,  may  well  be  considered  as  implied  in  the 
Christian  scheme,  yet  an  actual  incorporeal  state  of  the 
human  soul,  at  any  period  of  its  course,  is  not  necessarily 
involved  in  the  principles  of  our  faith,  any  more  than  it  is 
explicitly  asserted.  This  doctrine  concerning  what  is 
called  the  immateriality  of  the  soul,  should  ever  be 
treated  as  a  merely  philosophical  speculation,  and  as  un- 
important to  our  Christian  profession.  The  question 
then,  concerning  pure  immateriality,  we  regard  as  having 
been  passed,  untouched,  by  St.  Paul ;  nor  do  we  con- 


13  PHYSICALTHEORY 

sider  it  as  in  any  specific  manner  important  to  the  inqui- 
ries upon  which  we  are  about  to  enter.  Nevertheless, 
there  may  be  an  advantage  in  concisely  stating  what 
seems  to  be  the  present  relative  position  of  the  two  par- 
ties in  the  old  controversy  concerning  matter  and  mind : 
—  a  controversy  very  like  to  die  away  for  ever. 

The  antagonist  principles  are  then  thus  balanced.  — 
Two  classes  of  facts,  readily  distinguishable,  present 
themselves  to  our  consciousness  :  — those  of  the  one 
class  we  involuntarily  attribute  to  an  external  world,  and 
think  of  as  the  consequences  of  our  connexion  with  mat- 
ter, or  as  the  effects  which  its  properties  produce  upon 
our  minds.  But  those  of  the  other  class  we  as  invaria- 
bly regard  as  belonging  to  the  mind,  and  as  arising  from 
itself;  and  they  are,  many  of  them  at  least,  of  a  sort  which 
we  might  easily  imagine  to  have  place,  if  there  were  no 
external  world,  or  if  the  mind  had  no  sentient  know- 
ledge of  its  existence.  Theory  and  speculation  apart, 
the  entire  mass  of  our  consciousness  resolves  itself,  natu- 
rally and  easily,  into  these  two  elements  ;  and  it  is  only  by 
the  temporary  force  of  some  arbitrary  system  of  philoso- 
phy, that  we  can  be  brought  to  regard  the  two  elements 
as  essentially  one  and  the  same ;  and  the  constitution  of 
our  minds  reluctates  every  moment  at  the  violence  done 
it  by  any  such  means. 

But  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  common 
sense,  the  attempt  has  in  every  age  been  renewed,  on  the 
one  side  by  the  materialist,  and  on  the  other  by  the  spi- 
ritualist (if  we  may  so  use  the  term)  to  melt  down  these 
two  elements  into  a  mass,  or  to  annul  the  distinction  be- 
tween them  ;  —  the  one  by  affirming  that  mind  is  mere 
organization,  or  a  product  of  matter ;  and  the  other,  by 
alleging  that  those  varied  sensations  or  states  of  the  mind 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE.  19 

which,  by  "  a  natural  prejudice,"  we  attribute  to  an  ex- 
ternal material  world,  are  in  fact  nothing  more  than 
peculiar  conditions  of  the  mind  itself,  and  that  there  nei- 
ther is  an  external  world,  nor  can  be ;  or  that  even  if 
there  were,  we  could  never  have  any  substantial  proof  of 
its  existence. 

Now  the  two  parties,  if  indeed  two  such  parties  may  be 
said  to  be  yet  extant,  have  nearly  come  to  an  agreement 
on  one  point,  namely,  that  our  belief  of  the  reality  of  mat- 
ter and  of  mind  can  never  be  made  to  stand  together  as 
collateral  truths,  equal  in  authority,  and  resting  upon  the 
same  sort  of  evidence,  and  ascertained  by  the  same  pro- 
cess of  reasoning.  If  at  last  they  are  to  consist  one  with 
the  other,  the  one  must  be  assumed  as  intuitively  cer- 
tain, and  as  incapable  of  proof  by  reasoning  ;  while  the 
other  must  thence  be  derived  in  the  way  of  inference, 
and  must,  however  well  proved,  yet  take  a  secondary 
place  in  the  order  of  things  known.  Which  of  the  two 
then  shall  we  assume  as  needing  no  proof,  and  employ 
as  a  fulcrum  of  argument  in  proving  the  other,  or  in  dis- 
proving it  ? 

The  materialist  —  and  in  this  argument  the  materialist 
must  take  the  atheist  as  his  companion,  the  materialist 
says — "  It  is  impossible  forme  to  doubt  the  existence  of 
matter ;  for  it  is  under  my  touch,  it  is  before  my  eyes, 
and  its  properties  are  the  subject  of  the  only  sciences 
that  are  absolute  in  their  method  of  reasoning,  and  infal- 
lible in  their  results.  But  as  to  mind,  otherwise  than  as 
it  is  merely  a  function  of  animal  organization,  or  a  pro- 
duct of  cerebral  secretions,  I  know  nothing,  and  can 
know  nothing  of  it,  and  the  inquiry  concerning  it  ever 
has  been,  and  must  always  remain  obscure  and  unsatis- 
factory." 


20  PHYSICALTHEORY 

But  the  spiritualist  contemns  this  summary  treatment 
of  the  argument  by  his  antagonist,  as  crude  and  illogical, 
and  such  as  can  satisfy  none  who  are  competent  to  ana- 
lyse strictly  their  own  consciousness.  He  affirms  that 
this  statement  of  the  case  by  his  opponent  takes  for 
granted  the  very  facts  that  are  to  be  proved;  and  in  re- 
ply to  the  materialist,  he  says  — "  All  that  I  contend  for, 
and  which  I  affirm  to  be  intuitively  certain,  and  known 
without  proof,  you  first  tacitly  assume,  and  then  formally 
deny.  What  are  all  these  sensations  of  touch  and  sight, 
and  what  are  these  demonstrations  of  mathematical  sci- 
ence of  which  you  speak,  but  so  many  slates  of  the  mind 
—  so  many  mental  phenomena,  as  I  may  term  them, 
which,  while  they  imply  necessarily  the  existence  of 
mind,  do  but  render  the  existence  of  matter  probable ; 
or  at  best  demonstrate  its  reality  by  a  circuit  of  reason- 
ing ?  I  will  grant  you  that  an  external  world  may  exist, 
and  I  believe  that  it  does  exist :  but  this  very  belief,  let  it 
rise  as  high  as  it  may,  together  with  the  argument  that 
sustains  it,  are  still  only  so  many  elements  of  my  mental 
consciousness,  and  can  never  nullify  or  annihilate  that  of 
which  they  are  parts."  This  skepticism  concerning  the 
reality  of  matter,  and  an  external  world,  which  is  of  a  far 
more  subtile  and  sweeping  kind  than  that  of  the  materi- 
alist concerning  mind,  he  finds  it  impossible  to  supplant ; 
and  he  feels  himself  undermined  in  his  assault  upon 
spiritualism,  and  his  foot  sinks  whichever  way  he  endea- 
vours to  advance.  His  opponent  therefore  leaves  him 
with  this  defiance  — "  Prove  the  existence  of  an  external 
world  if  you  please,  or  if  you  can  ;  —  and  I  too  believe 
it  to  exist ;  but  I  believe  it  by  inference ;  and  therefore 
hold  it  as  a  truth,  if  not  inferior  in  certainty,  yet  assur- 
edly as  subordinate  to  that  primary  truth  —  the  existence 
of  mind." 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE,  21 

Now  even  if  it  were  granted  that  a  due  regard  to  the 
constitution  of  the  human  mind,  —  its  physiology  obliges 
us  to  receive  its  instinctive  and  involuntary  conviction 
of  the  reality  of  an  external  world  as  a  proper  evidence 
of  its  existence,  and  as  superseding  all  reasoning  on  the 
subject,  so  that  the  two  truths  should  be  considered  as 
alike  intuitively  known,  still  the  spiritualist  will  retain  the 
advantage  he  has  gained  over  his  opponent;  for  it  is 
manifest  that,  if  there  be  room  at  all  for  hesitation  or 
skepticism  in  relation  to  either  truth,  it  is  matter,  not 
mind,  that  is  in  jeopardy.  The  very  ground  of  the 
assumption  that  the  existence  of  an  external  world  ought 
to  be  admitted  as  certain,  without  reasoning,  is  nothing 
else  but  a  consideration  of  the  laws  or  constitution  of  the 
mind.  Mind,  therefore,  and  its  elementary  principles, 
stands  first  in  logical  order ;  and  the  existence  of  matter 
follows,  if  not  as  an  inference,  yet  as  a  truth  to  be  af- 
firmed after  another  has  been  granted. 

The  bearing  of  this  controversy  upon  Christianity  may 
thus  be  stated  :  —  The  doctrine  of  the  materialist,  if  it 
were  followed  out  to  its  extreme  consequences,  and  con- 
sistently held,  is  plainly  atheistic,  and  therefore  incom- 
patible with  every  form  of  religious  belief.  It  is  so 
because,  in  affirming  that  mind  is  nothing  more  than  the 
product  of  animal  organization,  it  excludes  the  belief  of 
a  pure  and  uncreated  mind  —  the  cause  of  all  things ; 
for  if  there  be  a  supreme  mind,  absolutely  independent 
of  matter,  then,  unquestionably  there  may  be  created 
minds  also  independent  of  matter.  But  if  the  materialist 
is  ready  to  admit,  as  he  usually  does,  the  divine  exist- 
ence and  the  pure  spirituality  of  the  divine  nature,  and  if 
he  professes  to  mean  nothing  more  than  that  created 
minds  are  in  fad  always  embodied,  and  that,  apart  from 
3 


22  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

some  material  structure  or  animal  organization,  there  is 
no  consciousness  or  activity,  then,  and  in  this  sense  un- 
derstood, materialism  becomes  a  doctrine  of  little  or  no 
importance  to  our  faith  as  Christians,  for  it  may  consist 
well  enough  with  what  is  affirmed  in  the  scriptures  con- 
cerning the  immortality  of  man,  the  resurrection,  the 
intermediate  state,  and  the  existence  and  agency  of  invisi- 
ble orders.  On  the  other  hand,  although  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  theology  are  saved  and  respected  by  the  spirit- 
ualist, yet,  if  he  goes  so  far  as  to  call  into  question  the 
reality  of  the  external  world,  and  the  material  universe,  it 
will  not  be  without  having  recourse  to  very  subtile  modes 
of  reasoning,  and  to  abstruse  distinctions,  that  he  can 
reconcile  this  sort  of  skepticism  with  the  plain  sense  and 
explicit  affirmations  of  the  inspired  volume.  Moreover, 
as  Christianity,  by  its  characteristic  temper,  distastes  phi- 
losophic refinements  of  all  sorts,  it  will  reject  a  theory 
which  tends  to  introduce  a  species  of  mysticism,  scarcely 
less  atheistic  than  the  bolder  doctrine  of  the  materialist. 
To  bring  into  doubt  in  any  way  (and  it  is  of  little  moment 
in  what  way,  or  on  what  pretext,)  that  which  the  common 
sense  of  mankind  has  always  assumed  to  be  certain,  is 
—  if  not  to  shake  the  evidence  of  all  truth,  yet  to  paralyse 
the  faculty  by  which  evidence  of  any  kind  is  seized  and 
held.  Whether  you  rob  a  man  of  his  treasure,  or  disable 
the  hand  that  grasps  it,  you  do  him  an  equal  injury ;  or 
perhaps  we  should  say  that  the  latter  is  the  worse  wrong 
of  the  two. 

Our  present  passing  reference  to  this  controversy  may 
be  dismissed  with  affirming  the  probability  that  it  will  ere 
long  become  totally  extinct;  for  as  the  atheistic  mate- 
rialist finds  himself  dislodged  from  his  too  hastily  assumed 
position,  by  a  skepticism  more  profound  and  refined  than 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  23 

his  own,  he  is  not  likely  again  to  provoke  discussion  on 
the  subject ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  spiritualist, 
who  would  never  have  entertained  or  advanced  his  skep- 
ticism concerning  the  external  world,  if  he  had  not  been 
incited  to  do  so,  as  a  summary  means  of  dealing  with 
the  atheist,  will  no  longer  have  any  urgent  motive  for 
reviving  the  argument  after  it  has  been  generally  con- 
fessed that  philosophic  atheism  is  indefensible.  Thus, 
as  we  may  fairly  hope,  the  two  worlds  of  matter  and 
mind  will  henceforward  be  permitted  quietly  to  coexist. 

But  be  this  as  it  may,  the  doctrine  of  the  scriptures 
concerning  the  destiny  of  man,  stands  untouched  : — or, 
to  revert  to  the  argument  of  St.  Paul  on  the  subject  of 
the  resurrection,  it  is  altogether  independent  of  any  such 
abstruse  questions,  inasmuch  as  it  is  BODY,  and  not 
spirit  about  which  he  reasons.  His  interrogatories  and 
his  replies,  may  be  reduced  to  these  — '  Have  the  dead 
ceased  to  exist?  Have  those  who  are  fallen  asleep 
perished  1  No ;  —  for  there  is  a  spiritual  body,  and  an- 
other vehicle  of  human  nature,  as  well  as  a  natural  body; 
and  therefore  the  dissolution  of  this  animal  structure 
leaves  the  LIFE  untouched.'  The  animal  body  is  not 
itself  the  life,  nor  is  it  the  cause  of  life :  nor  again  is  the 
spiritual  body  the  life,  nor  the  cause  of  it ;  but  the  one 
as  well  as  the  other  are  the  instruments  of  the  mind,  and 
the  necessary  medium  of  every  specific  and  productive 
exercise  of  its  faculties. 

The  Christian  scriptures  then,  and  St.  Paul,  specifically 
affirm,  not  any  abstruse  metaphysical  doctrine  concern- 
ing mind  and  matter ;  but  the  simple  physiological  fact, 
of  two  species  of  corporeity,  destined  for  man ;  the  first, 
that  of  our  present  animal  and  dissoluble  organization, 


24 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 


which  we  share,  in  all  its  conditions,  with  the  irrational 
sentient  tribes  around  us ;  and  the  second  —  a  future 
spiritual  structure,  imperishable,  and  endowed  with  higher 
powers,  and  many  desirable  prerogatives. 

Now  having  the  sanction  of  this  inspired  affirmation 
of  these  two  kinds  of  corporeity,  and  intending  to  in- 
quire concerning  the  probable  prerogatives  of  the  future 
human  body ;  it  is  natural  that  we  should  first  state  what 
appear  to  be  the  essential  conditions  of  corporeity,  whe- 
ther animal  or  spiritual,  so  that  before  we  come  to  ask 
wherein  the  spiritual  body  shall  excel  the  animal  body, 
we  may  understand  what  it  is  in  which  the  two  must  be 
supposed  to  agree. 

We  assume  the  reality  and  independence  of  mind  and 
matter ;  and  yet  suppose  that,  although  intrinsically  un- 
like, and  capable  of  existing,  the  one  without  the  other, 
nevertheless  that,  as  they  coexist,  so  are  they  intimately 
blended,  and  reciprocally  affect  each  other  within  the 
circle  of  sentient  and  active  life.  Body,  whether  animal 
or  spiritual,  is  a  third  essence  —  a  middle  nature,  and 
the  means  of  the  reciprocity  of  the  two  unlike  substances. 
Body  is  the  tangential  point  of  the  two  worlds  of  mind 
and  matter;  or  it  is  the  amalgam  of  two  substances 
wherein  the  properties  of  both  are  so  blended  as  to  con- 
stitute a  mean,  essentially  unlike  what  could  have  re- 
sulted from  any  possible  construction  of  the  one,  by 
itself.  The  body  is  to  the  mind  the  means  of  a  mode 
of  existence,  and  the  organ  of  an  exertion  of  powers 
which,  in  its  incorporeal  state  it  could  never  have  known 
and  exercised.  If,  metaphorically  speaking,  matter  is 
refined  and  ennobled  by  its  union  to  mind,  it  is  mind  that 
is  really  advantaged  thereby,  for  it  is  absolutely  indiffer- 
ent to  matter  whether  it  be  left  in  a  grosser  state,  or  be 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE. 


25 


wrought  into  a  more  elaborate  form.  On  the  contrary, 
by  compounding  itself  with  matter,  mind  takes  posses- 
sion of  a  world  foreign  to  itself;  and,  in  a  sense,  doubles 
its  powers  of  action  and  its  sphere  of  existence. 


26  PHYSICALTHEORY 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    CONDITIONS    OF    CORPOREITY,    WHETHER    ANIMAL 
OR    SPIRITUAL. 

THE  blending  of  mind  and  matter  in  the  bodily  struc- 
ture of  the  sentient  and  rational  orders,  we  may  be  as- 
sured, is  a  method  of  procedure  which,  if  it  be  not  abso- 
lutely indispensable  to  the  final  purposes  of  the  creation, 
subserves  the  most  important  ends,  and  carries  with  it 
consequences  such  as  will  make  it  the  general,  if  not  the 
universal  law  of  all  finite  natures,  in  all  worlds.  A  little 
attention  to  what  is  involved  in  the  idea  of  corporeal 
existence  will  incline  us  to  believe  that  it  is  the  basis  of 
intellectual  activity  —  of  moral  agency,  and  of  commu- 
nion or  sociality  among  intelligent  orders. 

In  stating  these  common  prerogatives,  or  conse- 
quences of  corporeity,  we  of  course  leave  out  of  view 
whatever  seems  proper  to  animal  organization  merely ; 
and  we  then  ascend  by  abstraction,  as  high  as  we  can 
go,  toward  the  few  essential  conditions  of  the  combina- 
tion of  mind  and  matter. 

And  first,  without  question,  we  must  affirm  that  Body 
is  the  necessary  means  of  bringing  Mind  into  relation- 
ship with  space  and  extension,  and  so,  of  giving  it  — 
PLACE.  Very  plainly,  a  disembodied  spirit,  or  we 
should  rather  say,  an  unembodied  spirit,  or  sheer  mind, 
is  NO  WHERE.  Place  is  a  relation  belonging  to  exten- 


OF  THE 

UinVERS.IT1 

OF     ANOTHER     LIFflL    />>  ^      O^7      ^^  K. 

^ 

sion  ;  and  extension  is  a  property  of 
which  is  wholly  abstracted  from  matter,  and  in  speaking 
of  which  we  deny  that  it  has  any  property  in  common 
therewith,  can  in  itself  be  subject  to  none  of  its  condi- 
tions ;  and  we  might  as  well  say  of  a  pure  spirit  that  it  is 
hard,  heavy,  or  red,  or  that  it  is  a  cubic  foot  in  dimen- 
sions, as  say  that  it  is  here  or  there.  It  is  only  in  a 
popular  and  improper  sense  that  any  such  affirmation  is 
made  concerning  the  Infinite  Spirit,  or  that  we  speak  of 
God  as  every  where  present.  God  is  in  every  place 
in  a  sense  altogether  incomprehensible  by  finite  minds, 
inasmuch  as  his  relation  to  space  and  extension  is  pecu- 
liar to  infinitude.  Using  the  terms  as  we  use  them  of 
ourselves,  God  is  not  here  or  there,  any  more  than  he 
exists  now  and  then.  Although  therefore  the  idea  may 
not  readily  be  seized  by  every  one,  we  must  neverthe- 
less yield  it  to  be  true  that,  when  we  talk  of  an  absolute 
immateriality,  and  wish  to  withdraw  mind  altogether 
from  matter,  we  must  no  longer  allow  ourselves  to 
imagine  that  it  is,  or  can  be,  in  any  place,  or  that  it  has 
any  kind  of  relationship  to  the  visible  and  extended 
universe.  But  in  combining  itself  with  matter,  by  the 
means  of  a  corporeal  lodgement,  mind  brings  itself  into 
alliance  with  the  various  properties  of  the  external  world, 
and  takes  a  share  in  the  conditions  of  solidity  and  ex- 
tension. Thenceforward  mind  occupies  one  place,  at 
one  time,  moves  from  place  to  place,  and  may  follow 
other  minds,  and  be  followed  by  others ;  —  it  may  find 
and  be  found ;  it  may  be  detained,  or  be  set  at  large  ;  it 
may  go  to  and  fro  within  a  narrow  circle,  or  it  may  tra- 
verse a  wide  circle  ;  and  while,  by  this  same  means,  the 
material  universe  is  opened  to  its  acquaintance,  it  is  also 
restricted  in  its  opportunities  of  acquiring  knowledge  by 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 

its  subjection  to  the  laws  of  gravitation  and  motion  :  we 
may  then  with  some  degree  of  confidence  regard  a  cor- 
poreal state  as  indispensable  to  the  exercise  of  active 
faculties,  to  a  scheme  of  government,  and  to  a  social 
economy. 

That  which  is  finite  —  a  finite  mind  for  example,  must, 
as  we  are  inclined  to  think,  become  subject  to  some  ac- 
tual limitations,  and  must  undergo  some  specific  rela- 
tions, before  its  faculties  can  come  into  play,  or  be  pro- 
ductive of  effects.  There  is  reason  to  conjecture  (per- 
haps stronger  terms  might  be  used)  that  none  but  the 
Infinite  Spirit  can  be  more  than  a  latent  essence,  or  inert 
power,  until  compacted  by  some  sort  of  restraint.  The 
union  with  matter,  or  the  coming  into  a  corporeal  state, 
may  be  in  fact,  not  a  degradation  to  mind,  but  the  very 
means  of  its  quickening  —  its  birth  into  the  world  of 
knowledge  and  action.  The  first  consequence  of  this 
birth  is,  as  we  have  said,  the  acquirement  of  locality  in 
the  extended  universe. 

But  in  the  second  place,  a  relationship  not  at  all  less 
important  than  the  preceding,  is  undoubtedly  dependent 
upon  the  union  of  the  mind  with  matter,  or  upon  its  cor- 
poreity ;  —  namely,  its  relationship  to  TIME. 

Consequences  the  most  momentous,  and  which  per- 
haps we  do  not  often  think  of,  connected  as  well  with 
our  intellectual  and  active,  as  our  moral  life,  attach  to 
our  connexion  with  that  equable  motion  by  which  dura- 
tion is  at  once  measured  and  made  sensible  to  us.  Nor 
is  it  easy  to  conceive  of  a  social  economy  and  system  of 
government,  in  a  world  where  all  were  not  held  to  one 
and  the  same  rate  of  intellectual  movement,  through  their 
contemporary  period.  Familiar  as  we  are,  and  have  al- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE, 


29 


ways  been  with  the  equal  periods  that  are  marked  for  us 
by  the  celestial  and  telluric  revolutions,  we  think  it  only 
natural,  and  a  matter  of  course,  that  our  individual  con- 
sciousness of  duration  should  flow  on  equably,  and  that 
this  consciousness  of  time  in  one  mind,  should  pretty 
nearly  keep  pace  with  the  same  feeling  in  other  minds. 
But  a  little  attention  to  some  familiar  facts,  as  well  as 
to  the  reason  of  the  thing,  will  convince  us  that,  for  this 
equable  consciousness,  or  perception  of  the  steady  flow 
of  time,  we  are  wholly  indebted  to  external  and  artificial 
means,  deprived  of  which  our  notion  of  duration,  and  our 
recollection  of  the  successive  parts  of  it,  would  be  the 
most  variable  and  illusory  of  all  the  conditions  of  our 
existence ;  —  nay,  utterly  irregular  and  unfixed,  so  that, 
according  to  the  ever  varying  velocity  of  our  mental 
states,  a  minute  might  seem  a  century,  or  a  century  a 
minute.  We  must  indeed  still  (as  finite  beings)  know 
ourselves  to  be  flowing  along  a  line,  or  as  existing  in- 
stant by  instant ;  but  should  have  no  means  of  determin- 
ing the  rate,  or  of  rendering  it  equable. 

Let  the  reader,  by  a  little  effort,  imagine  himself  to- 
tally cut  off  from  all  connexion  with  the  clock-work  of 
the  material  universe  ;  —  uninformed  of  the  alternations 
of  day  and  night,  and  of  summer  and  winter  —  remote 
from  the  swing  of  the  pendulum,  and  unconscious  also 
of  the  beating  of  the  pulse,  of  the  heaving  of  the  chest, 
of  the  sensations  of  hunger  and  satiety,  of  sleep  and 
wakefulness :  —  in  such  a  state  of  absolute  seclusion 
from  all  the  mechanical  and  animal  indices  of  equable 
motion  —  that  is  to  say,  knowing  nothing  of  time,  he 
must  very  soon,  or  as  soon  as  the  previously  required 
habit  of  the  mind  had  become  indistinct,  cease  to  be 
conscious  of  any  other  difference  between  a  long  period 


30 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 


and  a  short  one,  than  that  which  might  be  derived  from 
the  actual  equableness  of  his  thoughts  and  emotions ; 
and  if  these  at  some  seasons  (as  in  fact  they  do)  follow- 
ed one  the  other  with  incalculable  rapidity,  while  at 
another  season  a  single  idea  or  emotion  remained  fixed 
in  the  mind,  there  would  be  no  possible  means  of  his 
ascertaining  whether,  since  a  certain  mental  state  or 
epoch,  he  had  existed  an  hour,  a  day,  a  year,  a  century, 
or  a  thousand  years.  Thus  insulated  from  equable 
motion,  we  should  not  be  able  to  correct  our  individual 
consciousness  of  duration  by  comparing  it  with  that  of 
others  under  like  circumstances  ;  for  while  one,  by  the 
peculiar  constitution  of  his  mind,  would  tell  us  an  eter- 
nity had  elapsed  since  we  last  conferred  with  him,  an- 
other, either  more  inert,  or  more  addicted  to  dwell  upon 
abstractions,  would  say  —  it  was  only  yesterday  when 
we  compared  eras.  To  MERE  MIND,  a  long  period  means 
nothing  else  but  a  period  in  which  it  has  passed  through 
many  and  various  states  with  a  vivid  consciousness  and 
distinct  recollection  of  each ;  and  a  short  period  is  one 
during  which  few  ideas  or  emotions  have  sluggishly  fol- 
lowed each  other,  or  have  intently  engaged  it,  or,  whe- 
ther few  or  many,  have  clean  passed  from  the  memory. 
Yet  the  former  may  in  fact  have  been  only  a  tenth  or  a 
hundredth  part  of  the  latter.  Every  one's  experience  in 
dreaming,  or  in  sickness,  may  furnish  him  with  facts  il- 
lustrative of  the  unfixedness  and  illusory  quality  of  our 
consciousness  of  duration,  when  entirely  deprived  of  the 
external  means  of  collating  our  mental  history  with  the 
regular  motions  of  the  material  world. 

It  is  motion  that  measures  duration,  and  Time  is  du- 
ration, measured  into  equal  parts  by  the  equable  motion 
of  bodies  through  space.  But  as  motion  belongs  to 


OF    ANOTHER     LIFE.  31 

matter,  of  which  it  is  a  condition,  and  is  that  wherein 
duration  and  extension  combine  to  form  a  common  pro- 
duct, so  mind  must  become  related  to  extension,  in  order 
to  its  having  any  knowledge  of  motion,  or  to  its  being 
able  to  avail  itself  of  the  measurement  of  duration  ;  in 
other  words,  it  is  only  in  connexion  with  matter  that  it 
can  know  any  thing  of  time. 

Minds  embodied,  not  only  learn  to  measure  out  their 
own  existence  equally,  and  to  correct  the  illusions  of 
which  otherwise  they  would  be  the  sport,  but  also,  by  an 
insensible  habit,  come  to  exist  at  a  more  even  velocity, 
if  we  may  so  speak,  than  could  else  be  possible,  and 
learn  unconsciously  to  put  a  curb  upon  the  excessive  and 
dangerous  rapidity  of  thought ;  while  in  other  cases  a 
spur  is  supplied  for  the  sluggishness  of  the  mind,  or  a 
remedy  found  for  its  undue  fixedness  ;  and  thus  all  minds 
are  brought  to  move  together,  at  nearly  the  same  rate,  or 
at  least  as  nearly  so  as  is  essential  for  securing  the  order 
and  harmony  of  the  social  system.  We  should  not  be 
warranted  in  affirming  that  mere  minds,  or  unembodied 
spirits,  could  not,  by  any  means  purely  immaterial,  be- 
come conscious  of  the  equable  lapse  of  duration.  But 
we  see  in  fact  that  it  is  exclusively  through  the  corporeal 
alliance  of  mind  with  the  external  world,  that  this  im- 
portant rectification  of  its  consciousness  is  effected  ;  nor 
would  it  be  difficult  to  specify  some  very  momentous 
consequences  attaching  to  the  government  of  the  moral 
system,  that  may  perhaps  be  found  to  result  from  a  sus- 
pension, or  from  the  restoration  of  this  means  of  know- 
ing the  lapse  of  time.  In  truth,  a  speculation  of  this 
4dnd,  if  pursued  in  all  its  bearings,  might  lead  to  our 
taking  a  new  view,  not  merely  of  the  economy  of  the 
human  system,  but  of  that  world  of  animal  life  and 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 

enjoyment  by  which  we  are  surrounded.  We  are  ac- 
customed to  take  it  for  granted  that  all  creatures  are 
living  at  one  and  the  same  rate,  or  that  they  are  go- 
ing by  our  clock ;  whereas  in  fact,  if  we  duly  consi- 
der the  analogies  of  the  system  of  nature,  we  shall  see 
reason  to  conjecture  that,  while  perhaps  some  species 
of  animals  are  living  much  slower  than  ourselves,  others 
may  be  living  inconceivably  faster.  It  is  by  no  means 
unphilosophical  to  imagine  that  the  ephemera  of  a  sum- 
mer's noon,  which  we  are  apt  to  pity  as  short  lived,  may,  in 
the  compass  of  their  few  sunny  hours,  be  running  through 
a  century  of  joyous  sensations;  and  if  the  microscope, 
which  exposes  to  our  view  the  vivacious  tenants  of  a 
drop  of  water,  had  the  power  also  of  laying  open  the 
whirl  of  the  sentient  faculty  of  these  tribes,  it  might  ap- 
pear, to  our  amazement,  that  the  busy  history  of  a  thou- 
sand years  is  compacted  into  their  life  of  a  day  or  an 
hour,  so  that  the  diminutiveness  of  their  visible  organs 
is  even  less  astonishing  than  the  compression  of  their 
consciousness.  These  speculations  are  however  foreign 
to  our  immediate  purpose. 

Nevertheless  we  must  follow  them  a  single  step  fur- 
ther, so  as  to  point  out  a  not  improbable  consequence  of 
the  principle  upon  which  the  visible  universe  is  con- 
structed :  —  we  mean  that  of  the  subdivision  of  the  mass 
into  spheres,  revolving  in  precise  times,  and  each  world, 
as  it  seems,  being  furnished  with  a  double  or  treble  mea- 
surement of  time,  by  its  annual  and  diurnal  rotations,  by 
its  cycle  of  seasons,  and  by  the  revolution  of  its  satel- 
lites. In  looking  abroad  upon  the  thickly  peopled  fields 
of  space,  wherein  all  worlds  are  made  subject  to  the  law 
of  equable  motion,  who  can  resist  the  belief  that  this 
stupendous  machinery,  (whatever  other  purposes  its  re- 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE. 

volutions  may  subserve)  is  a  vast  horology  —  a  register 
of  duration,  to  all  rational  tribes,  and  a  means,  indis- 
pensable to  the  purposes  of  universal  government,  of 
holding  all  minds  to  the  due  symphony  of  time.  As  all 
minds,  by  the  means  of  corporeity  are  connected  with 
extension,  and  are  limitted  to  place,  so  are  all,  by  the 
same  means,  and  by  the  revolution  of  the  worlds  they 
inhabit,  bound  down  to  time.  There  may  be  intelligent 
orders,  so  fiery  in  temperament,  that,  but  for  this  physical 
check, —  this  necessity  of  keeping  pace  with  the  slow 
march  of  the  planetary  bodies,  they  would  outrun  their 
term,  and  leave  their  ranks  in  the  steady  movement  of 
the  great  social  system.  Are  there,  on  the  other  hand, 
minds  secluded  from  the  sight  of  the  visible  heavens,  and 
shut  out  from  every  means  of  reckoning  years  and  cen- 
turies ?  Such  may  be  passing  through  a  state  and  pro- 
cess during  the  continuance  of  which  the  perception  of 
time  would  be  no  boon. 

In  the  third  place,  as  the  corporeal  alliance  of  the 
mind  with  matter  is  seen  to  be  in  fact  the  means  of  ex- 
posing it  passively  to  the  properties  of  the  material  world, 
and  thus  of  making  it  liable  to  pleasures  and  pains  not 
proper  to  itself,  and  to  some  of  the  most  intense  kind,  so 
may  this  connexion  be  universally  necessary  for  the  same 
end.  In  truth,  the  pleasures  and  the  pains  to  which  the 
mind  is  laid  open  by  its  amalgamation  with  matter  in  the 
body,  are  so  intense  as  to  take  the  lead,  for  the  most 
part,  in  determining  its  active  and  moral  destiny.  If  in- 
deed the  mind  were  not  inherently  susceptible  of  im- 
pressions from  the  properties  of  matter,  it  is  not  any  ani- 
mal organization  that  could  render  it  so.  Nevertheless 
it  is  probable  that  sensation  is  the  result  of  corporeity, 
4 


34  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

or  an  effect  not  taking  place  apart  from  that  intimate 
blending  of  the  two  alien  substances  of  which  the  body 
is  the  medium ;  or  it  may  be  only  as  embodied  that  the 
perceptions  of  the  mind  are  definite  and  distinct.  In 
illustration  of  this  alleged  consequence  of  corporeity,  as 
the  necessary  means  of  rendering  the  mind  conscious 
of  the  properties  of  matter,  we  might  refer  to  the  instan- 
ces, so  frequent  in  chemical  science,  in  which  two  sub- 
stances remain  in  juxta  position,  without  in  any  manner 
affecting  each  other,  or  combining,  until  the  presence  of 
a  third  substance  puts  their  affinities  into  action.  It  is 
thus  that  the  presence  of  heat,  or  of  electricity,  or  of 
oxygen,  or  of  water,  is  the  means  of  forming  innumera- 
ble compounds,  or  of  dissolving  them.  And  so,  as  there 
is  room  to  conjecture,  the  unknown  principle  of  life,  may 
be  the  third  power,  or  element,  the  agency  of  which 
brings  mind  into  conscious  connexion  with  matter,  render- 
ing it  sensible  of  light,  and  colours,  of  heat,  solidity, 
sound,  tastes,  smells,  motion,  and  all  their  variations  of 
intensity.  Embodied,  the  mind,  by  a  process  of  natural 
and  involuntary  education,  becomes  familiar  with  a  cer- 
tain set  or  circle  of  the  properties  of  the  material  world ; 
and  though  still  unconscious,  probably,  of  many  other 
of  its  properties,  yet  gains  an  acquaintance  with  it  in  all 
the  points  that  are  important  to  its  present  welfare ;  and 
thus,  as  in  a  foreign  school,  brings  its  otherwise  latent 
faculties  into  exercise.  Moreover  it  is  as  embodied 
that  the  mind  comes  under  the  potent  and  sovereign  dis- 
cipline of  organic  pleasures  and  pains  —  and  how  large 
a  portion  of  its  history  hinges  upon  this  susceptibility ! 
There  is  no  reason  (at  least  we  have  no  reason)  to  be- 
lieve that,  apart  from  body,  or  in  a  purely  incorporeal 
state,  the  mind  could  either  enjoy  or  suffer  in  any  other 
manner  than  intellectually.  Probably  the  whole  of  that 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE. 

peremptory  and  efficacious  impulse  which  is  necessary 
for  putting  the  intellectual  and  moral  faculties  in  activity, 
and  for  maintaining  their  activity,  springs  from  this  ex- 
posure of  the  mind  to  the  stimulating  properties  of  mat- 
ter;—  that  is  to  say,  from  its  corporeal  constitution. 

But  then,  and  in  the  fourth  place,  this  same  intimate 
connexion  between  mind  and  matter,  while  it  exposes  the 
mind,  passively,  to  the  influence  of  matter,  becomes,  in 
return,  the  means  of  its  exerting  a  power  (and  how  exten- 
sive and  mysterious  a  power  is  it !)  over  the  solid  masses 
around  it.  Mind,  embodied,  by  a  simple  act  or  volition, 
originates  motion.  That  is  to  say,  its  will  or  desire, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  muscular  contractions,  as 
applied  to  the  body  itself,  or  to  other  bodies,  puts  it  or 
them  in  movement.  This  power  of  the  mind  in  over- 
coming the  vis  inertice  of  matter,  and  the  force  of  gravi  - 
tation,  is  the  only  active  influence  in  relation  to  the  ma- 
terial world,  which  we  have  a  certain  knowledge  of  its  pos- 
sessing ;  for,  as  is  obvious,  the  various  combinations  of 
substances  that  are  brought  about  by  the  skill  of  man,  are 
all  indirectly  effected  through  the  instrumentality  of  the 
muscular  system  ;  nor  can  it  be  ascertained  whether  the 
chemical  changes  and  assimilations  that  are  carried  on  in 
the  secreting  glands,  and  the  viscera,  are  effected  by  an 
unconscious  involuntary  mental  operation.  This  organic 
influence  excepted,  supposing  it  to  exist,  the  mechanical 
power  of  the  mind  is  the  only  one  it  enjoys ;  but  this  it 
enjoys,  as  we  shall  again  have  occasion  to  observe,  in  no 
mean  degree.  It  may,  without  much  hazard,  be  assumed 
that  motion,  in  all  instances,  originates  in  an  immediate 
volition,  either  of  the  supreme,  or  of  some  created  mind, 
and  that  this  power  is  exerted  by  the  latter  through  the 


36  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

means  of  a  corporeal  structure.  In  what  way  this  same 
power  may  in  future  be  extended  or  enhanced  we  shall 
soon  have  to  inquire. 

Hitherto  we  have  considered  those  consequences  or 
prerogatives  of  corporeity,  which  have  an  immediate  rela- 
tion to  the  material  world,  and  in  which  consists  the  mind's 
direct  alliance  with  matter.  But  there  are  other  conse- 
quences of  this  same  alliance  that  fall  in  upon  the  mind 
itself,  and  which,  if  they  do  not  originate  some  of  its  ope- 
rations, or  modes  of  feeling,  yet  modify  them  to  a  great 
extent. 

Thus,  and  in  the  fifth  place,  it  is  to  its  corporeal  con- 
nexion with  the  external  world  that  must  be  attributed 
the  mind's  liability  to  various  mixed  emotions,  as  well 
pleasurable  as  painful,  of  the  class  called  imaginative. 
These  emotions,  often  of  the  most  powerful  kind,  and 
which  are  neither  merely  animal  or  organic,  nor  purely 
intellectual  or  moral,  mingle  with  all  other  elements  of 
our  nature,  and  modify,  abate,  or  stimulate  every  func- 
tion of  the  active  and  moral  life.  The  sense  of  fitness, 
of  beauty,  of  sublimity,  of  terror,  of  harmony  and  music, 
and  their  opposites,  give  rise,  in  their  various  complex 
forms,  to  sentiments  and  to  modes  of  action  such  as  are 
scarcely  more  foreign  to  what  belongs  to  brute  life,  than 
they  are  to  what  might  belong  to  mind  in  a  state  of 
absolute  abstraction  from  matter.  Each  of  these  sensi- 
bilities and  tastes,  with  its  endless  combinations,  is,  in  a 
sense,  a  product  of  the  material  universe,  and  is  directly 
consequent  upon  a  corporeal  mode  of  existence. 

The  imaginative  sentiments  might  perhaps,  at  a  first 
view,  be  regarded  as  being  of  temporary  use  only,  inas- 
much as  they  constitute  a  reconciling  medium  between 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE. 


37 


the  animal  and  intellectual  principles.  But,  in  consider- 
ing them  further,  it  appears  that  they  go  beyond  this 
lower  office,  and  in  fact  mingle  themselves  with  the  very 
highest  and  purest  of  our  moral  feelings.  We  ought  then 
to  reckon  them  among  the  noble  and  permanent  elements 
of  our  nature,  and  must  therefore  assume  that  they  will 
belong  to  the  spiritual,  as  they  have  belonged  to  the  ani- 
mal body.  If  man  were  animal  only,  he  would  neither 
need,  nor  indeed  could  he  possess  an  imaginative  faculty; 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  were  rational  only,  or  moral 
only,  the  class  of  sentiments  that  arise  from  this  faculty 
he  would  spurn  (could  he  conceive  of  them)  as  degrad- 
ing, or  as  illusory  ; — inasmuch  as  they  present  something 
which  is  either  more  or  less  than  absolute  truth,  reason, 
and  rectitude.  Or  if  man,  being  at  once  animal,  moral, 
and  rational,  were  yet  destitute  wholly  of  imagination  and 
of  its  sensibilities,  he  would  painfully  want  harmony  and 
combination  ;  and  would  be  compelled,  every  hour,  to 
pass,  with  a  shocking  abruptness,  from  one  mode  of  ex- 
istence, and  from  one  principle  of  life  to  another,  without 
the  aid  of  any  transition-feelings.  But  as  we  are  actu- 
ally constituted  we  find  within  the  circle  of  our  mental 
economy  nothing  so  purely  rational,  (not  even  mathema- 
tical truth)  and  nothing  so  simply  moral,  as  not,  by  the 
medium  of  imaginative  tastes,  to  be  brought  into  alliance, 
remotely  at  least,  with  animal  sensations ;  nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  there  any  thing  so  merely  sensual  as  not 
to  be,  in  some  measure,  relieved,  ennobled,  or  graced  by 
an  intermixture  of  ideas  of  beauty  and  order.  Now  the 
body,  with  its  organic  impressions,  is  manifestly  the 
means  of  effecting  this  harmony  of  the  various  elements 
of  our  mental  constitution,  and  so  of  generating  complex 
sentiments  of  a  sort  which  we  should  most  reluctantly 


38  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

lay  aside,  even  although  the  primary  purpose  they  were 
intended  to  subserve,  in  relation  to  the  present  life,  were 

superseded. 

Our  speculation  must  not  hastily  be  condemned  as  a 
mere  subtilty,  when  we  assume  it  to  be  probable  that 
the  correspondence  of  finite  minds  with  the  Infinite 
Mind  needs  to  be  attempered  by  an  admixture  of  those 
imaginative  sentiments  which  take  their  rise  in  the  cor- 
poreal constitution.  Those  organic  and  quelling  impres- 
sions of  beauty,  sublimity,  majesty,  and  those  feelings  of 
awe,  and  of  ecstacy,  and  that  adoration  in  which  a  latent 
dread  or  terror  imparts  intensity  to  the  happier  feeling  of 
affection  —  all  these  mixed  emotions  shall  perhaps  be 
found  necessary,  as  well  for  keeping  finite  minds  in  the 
place  that  becomes  them,  as  for  enabling  them  to  sustain 
the  immediate  presence  of  the  bright  and  absolute  per- 
fection. The  imaginative  sentiments  may  thus  serve  at 
once  to  facilitate  a  nearer  approach  to  the  ineffable  glory 
than  would  otherwise  be  possible,  and  to  fence  off  the 
mount  of  vision,  if  we  may  so  speak,  against  dangerous 
intrusions.  If  this  conjecture  be  well  founded,  we  may 
be  inclined  to  suppose  that  all  rational  orders  are  made 
to  commence  their  course  under  the  condition  of  animal 
organization,  wherein  they  become  thoroughly  imbued 
with  these  imaginative  sentiments,  which,  in  a  refined 
form  they  are  to  carry  on  with  them  throughout  their  im- 
mortality.* 

Not  to  multiply  distinctions,  or  refine  too  much,  we 

*  Does  this  conjecture  receive  support  from  the  apostolic  doc- 
trine — "  There  are  bodies  celestial,  and  bodies  terrestrial  —  there 
is  a  natural  body  —  and  a  spiritual  body—  HowbeiU/taf  is  not  first 
which  is  spiritual,  but  that  which  is  natural  ;  and  afterward  that 
which  is  spiritual."  This  order,  or  regular  process,  this  transition, 
is  it  the  universal  law  of  the  intelligent  creation  ? 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE 


may  class  under  this  same  head,  those  various  modifica- 
tions of  the  moral  sentiments,  both  in  the  way  of  abate- 
ment and  of  enhancement,  which  arise  from  our  corpo- 
real sympathies  and  animal  desires.  Neither  love  nor 
anger,  nor  the  sense  of  justice,  nor  the  emotion  of  pity, 
neither  shame,  remorse,  hatred,  amity,  ambition,  humil- 
ity, hope,  or  fear,  is  what  it  would  have  been  if  there 
were  no  concomitant  organic  sensations.  These  emo- 
tions of  the  moral  nature,  and  especially  when  they  form 
habits  or  dispositions,  and  constitute  individual  charac- 
ter, are  unquestionably  modified,  to  a  very  great  extent, 
by  the  peculiarities  of  the  physical  temperament ;  and 
hence  arise  various  modes  of  feeling,  of  a  complex  kind, 
which  must  be  traced  to  the  body  as  their  source.  Now 
even  if  these  physical  modifications  of  the  moral  nature 
might  be  dropped  with  the  dissolution  of  the  animal  frame, 
so  that  the  moral  sentiments  should  return  to  an  abso- 
lutely simple  state,  it  is  not  certain  that  we  should  be 
gainers  by  the  change  :  on  the  contrary,  it  is  easy  to  im- 
agine that  a  new  power  and  intensity,  a  vividness  and  a 
spring  shall  be  imparted  to  the  moral  principles  from 
their  sympathy  with  the  organic  energies  of  the  spiritual 
body.  At  present  we  are  conscious  of  the  fact  that  ac- 
tivity and  force  are  infused  into  the  moral  sentiments, 
even  the  most  exalted  of  them,  by  their  alliance  with  ani- 
mal sensations  ;  it  is  so  with  the  domestic  affections,  and 
with  general  benevolence,  and  pity,  courage,  and  ambi- 
tion :  the  rule  of  analogy  therefore  leads  us  to  suppose 
that  similar  effects  will  follow  from  a  similar  combina- 
tion, in  the  future  construction  of  human  nature. 

Once  more,  and  in  the  sixth  place,  the  corporeal  alli- 
ance of  mind  and  matter  is,  in  the  present  state,  and,  as 


40  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

we  may  strongly  conjecture,  it  will  be,  the  means  of  so 
defining  our  individuality  in  relation  to  others,  as  to  bring 
minds  under  the  conditions  of  a  social  economy.  The 
purposes  of  such  a  system  demand,  in  the  first  place, 
what  may  be  called  the  seclusion  or  the  insulation  of 
each  spirit,  or  its  impenetrability  by  other  spirits.  Com- 
munication and  exchange  of  thought  must,  under  any 
plan  of  free  agency,  be  voluntary  ;  there  must  rest  with 
each  member  of  the  community  a  power  of  reserve;  and 
then  the  means  of  communication  being  arbitrary,  must 
be  absolutely  under  the  command  of  the  individual. 
Now  the  body  is  not  the  open  bower  or  tent  of  the  soul, 
into  which  any  one  may  walk  at  pleasure ;  but  it  is  its 
castle,  from  which  all  other  minds  may  be  excluded. 
Perhaps  unembodied  spirits  (if  such  there  be)  may  lie 
open  to  inspection,  or  be  liable  to  invasion,  like  an 
unfenced  field,  or  a  plot  of  common  land.  But  although 
such  a  state  of  exposure  might  involve  no  harm  to  beings 
absolutely  good,  or  absolutely  evil,  we  cannot  imagine  it 
to  consist  with  the  safety  or  dignity  of  beings  like  man  ; 
or  indeed  to  be  proper  to  a  mixed  economy. 

But  further;  a  social  system  demands  the  means  of 
immediate  recognition  individually  ;  and  this,  in  the  pre- 
sent state,  is  provided  for  by  the  endless,  yet  distinct  pe- 
culiarities of  bodily  conformation,  and  by  that  law  of 
the  animal  organization  which  gives  to  each  peculiarity 
of  the  mind,  and  temper,  and  temperament,  a  character- 
istic exterior  expression.  It  must  not  be  positively  af- 
firmed that  these  purposes  could  not,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  be  secured  without  the  aid  of  a  corporeal  struc- 
ture ;  yet  there  is  some  reason  to  question  whether  sheer 
spirits  could  (except  by  immediate  acts  of  the  Divine  pow- 
er) be  individually  dealt  with,  and  governed,  could  be 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE 


41 


known,  and  employed,  could  be  followed  and  detained, 
could  form  lasting  associations,  and  be  moulded  into  hie- 
rarchies and  polities, could  sustain  office,  and  yield  obedi- 
ence, in  any  certain  manner,  if  at  all.  At  least  it  is  true 
that  all  these  functions  and  social  ends  are  now  in  fact 
dependent  upon  corporeity  ;  and  it  is  only  fair  to  assume 
that  they  demand  a  bodily  structure  in  every  case  where 
minds  are  to  live  and  act  in  concert  with  others. 

The  supposition  has  already  been  advanced*  that  the 
definite  or  productive  agency  of  finite  natures  demands 
that  Mind  be  compacted,  or  bound  down  to  those  condi- 
tions of  limitation  which  attach  to  matter,  and  which 
mind  undergoes  in  becoming  allied  to  matter.  Now  the 
same  principle,  if  it  be  good,  must  imply,  and  even  more 
clearly,  this  same  limitation  of  minds,  as  the  condition  of 
their  being  definitely  related  one  to  another,  and  of  their 
acting  one  upon  another,  and  one  with  another.  We 
imagine  that  by  the  medium  of  corporeity  the  mind  is 
defined,  and  its  powers  rendered  applicable  to  definite 
purposes. 

In  thus  naming  what  appear  to  be  the  common  condi- 
tions or  prerogatives  of  corporeal  existence,  whether  natu- 
ral or  spiritual,  we  of  course  do  not  include  any  adjunct 
of  the  present  life  which  makes  part  of  our  animal  organ- 
ization merely,  and  which  may  readily  be  conceived  of 
as  dropped  along  with  the  perishable  body.  After  setting 
off  all  such  temporary  faculties  of  the  body,  and  which 
are  subservient  only  to  the  well  being  of  the  animal  struc- 
ture itself,  —  to  its  preservation,  or  to  its  reproduction,  — 
we  reach  those  properties  or  consequences  of  the  corpo- 
real constitution  which  are  directly  subservient  to  the 
mind,  and  which  therefore  may,  on  good  grounds,  be 
*  Pa  £6  28. 


42  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

regarded  as  belonging  to  corporeity,  abstractedly,  and  as 
likely  to  attach  to  the  future  spiritual  body.  Such,  mani- 
festly, are  —  the  occupation  of  place,  or  a  relationship  to 
space  and  extension  —  the  consciousness  of  equable  mo- 
tion, or  a  knowledge  of  time  —  the  consciousness  of  the 
properties  of  matter,  or  sensation  —  an  active  power  over 
matter,  to  originate  motion  —  the  susceptibility  of  ima- 
ginative emotions,  and  of  mixed  moral  sentiments  —  and 
a  defined  recognizable  individuality. 

Besides  these  properties  or  consequences  of  the  cor- 
poreal union  of  mind  and  matter,  as  above  described, 
others  of  a  more  abstruse  kind,  might  be  named  which 
affect  the  processes  of  reasoning ;  but  it  may  be  better  to 
confine  ourselves,  at  present,  to  what  is  the  most  simple 
and  indisputable,  and  especially  as  fit  opportunities  will 
arise,  in  pursuing  our  inquiry,  for  adverting  to  some  of 
these  more  intricate  subjects.  In  truth  a  strict  analysis 
of  our  mental  operations  would  hardly  leave  one  free  from 
a  reasonable  supposition  of  being  extensively  modified 
by  the  interaction  of  mind  and  body,  or  of  being  what  it 
is  in  consequence  of  the  dependence  of  the  mind  upon  the 
organization  and  functions  of  the  brain.  It  is  so  with  the 
memory,  with  the  association  of  ideas,  with  the  power  of 
attention,  with  the  processes  of  comparison,  calculation 
and  reasoning,  and  with  the  inventive  faculty,  and  the 
perception  of  analogies. 

Having  thus  inquired  what  it  is  which  ought  to  be  attri- 
buted in  common  to  the  animal  and  to  the  spiritual  body, 
and  which  must  belong  as  well  to  the  future  as  to  the 
present  lodgment  of  the  human  mind,  we  are  next  to  ask 
(on  the  ground  of  physical  probability)  what  it  is  wherein 
the  difference  between  the  one  and  the  other  will  consist ; 
or  in  other  words,  what  are  likely  to  be  the  prerogatives 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  43 

of  the  latter,  as  compared  with  the  former ;  or  in  what 
manner  the  actual  powers  of  the  present  structure  of  hu- 
man nature  may  be  conceived  of  as  expanded  or  advan- 
taged, consistently  with  those  great  principles  of  analogy 
which  we  find  to  characterize  the  Divine  operations  in 
all  their  departments. 


44  PHYSICAL     THEORY 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  PROBABLE  PREROGATIVES  OF  SPIRITUAL  CORPO- 
REITY, AS  COMPARED  WITH  ANIMAL  ORGANIZATION  : 
THE  FIRST  OF  THOSE  PREROpATIVES. 

IN  now  approaching  the  hypothetical  part  of  our  sub- 
ject, we  must  again  remind  the  reader  of  the  important 
distinction  between  the  mere  creations  of  the  imagina- 
tion, and  the  legitimate  results  of  analysis  and  abstrac- 
tion. It  is  not  the  imagination  that  can  render  us  aid  in 
conceiving  of  a  new  and  different  mode  of  existence,  since 
it  is  but  the  mirror  of  the  world  around  it,  and  draws  all 
its  materials  from  things  actually  known.  It  may  exalt, 
refine,  ennoble,  enrich,  what  it  finds  ;  and  may  shed  over 
all  the  splendour  of  an  effulgence  such  as  earth  never 
sees ;  yet  it  must  end  where  it  began,  in  compounding 
elements,  and  in  recombining  forms  furnished  to  its  hand  ; 
and  if  ever  it  goes,  or  seems  to  go,  beyond  these  mate- 
rials, the  product  is  grotesque  or  absurd,  not  beautiful : 
there  is  no  symmetry  in  that  which  trenches  upon  the 
actual  forms  of  nature.  But  the  faculty  of  analysis  may 
boldly  and  safely  outstep  the  imagination  ;  and  may,  by 
a  careful  examination  of  the  constituents  of  human  na- 
ture, considered  in  their  abstract  value,  be  able,  in  ac- 
cordance with  sound  principles  of  analogy,  to  point  out 
other  modes  of  construction,  such  as,  while  they  imply 
only  small  actual  changes  of  form,  involve  high  preroga- 
tives. In  some  of  these  instances  it  may  not  be  difficult 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  45 

to  assign  a  reason  why  such  prerogatives  should  not  have 
been  granted  to  man,  in  his  present  condition ;  and  yet  it 
may  be  equally  easy,  or  nearly  so,  to  show  that  they  are 
abstractedly  possible,  and  that  they  are  compatible  one 
with  another,  and  that  they  comport  with  the  probable 
purposes  of  a  higher  range  of  intellectual  and  moral  life. 

And  be  it  always  remembered,  that  although  hypothe- 
sis is  not  truth,  —  or  we  should  rather  say,  is  not  truth 
ascertained,  —  yet,  when  legitimately  used,  it  is  the  most 
ready  and  effective  of  all  the  means  in  our  power  for  ac- 
quiring truth.  It  is  by  hypothesis,  framed  with  at  once 
a  bold  and  a  cautious  sagacity,  that  the  boundaries  of 
science  are  extended  :  and  it  is  in  the  use  of  this  method 
that  facts  and  principles  which  once  seemed  to  be  placed 
far  beyond  the  reach  of  human  intelligence  have  at  length 
been  brought  to  form  a  part  of  our  well-established  mo- 
dern philosophy.  At  the  least,  or  where  nothing  can  be 
done  beyond  the  mere  statement  of  a  rational  and  con- 
sistent theory,  this,  while  carefully  kept  apart  from  mat- 
ters of  certainty  and  faith,  may  serve  the  important  pur- 
poses, first,  of  superseding  a  multitude  of  difficulties, 
themselves  drawn  from  hypothetical  sources ;  and  se- 
condly, of  affording  a  provisional  aid  to  meditative  minds, 
in  loosening  from  things  sensual  and  temporary,  and  in 
bringing  vividly  home  to  their  convictions  the  bright  ex- 
pectation of  a  future  and  undecaying  felicity. 

Nothing  could  be  more  manifestly  absurd  than  the 
supposition  that  any  efforts  of  the  mind,  how  strenuous 
soever,  can  enable  it  to  conceive,  even  in  the  faintest 
manner,  of  a  mode  of  existence  essentially  and  totally 
unlike  our  actual  mode  of  life  ;  for  this  were  to  imagine 
ourselves  endowed  with  a  real  creative  faculty.  But 
the  task  we  now  undertake,  although  arduous,  is  alto- 
5 


46  PHYSICALTHEORY 

gether  of  another  sort ;  inasmuch  as  it  is  proposed  to 
specify  the  conditions  of  a  mode  of  existence,  differing 
from  the  present  as  little  as  may  6e,  and  yet  in  a  manner 
that  shall  secure  the  highest  advantages.  On  a  line  of 
conjecture  like  this,  sobriety  may  be  mistress  of  our 
course,  nor  need  we  set  a  single  step,  without  a  suffi- 
cient reason  for  the  direction  we  take.  That  the  prin- 
ciple of  analogy  will  hold  good,  in  connecting  the  pre- 
sent with  the  future  constitution  of  human  nature  is  a 
persuasion  which,  while  the  material  universe  is  before 
us,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  resist ;  and  that  such  an 
analogy  will  actually  run  on  from  the  present  to  the  fu- 
ture, the  language  of  scripture  plainly  implies.  But  if 
so,  then  it  cannot  be  thought  a  hopeless  task  to  trace  the 
rudiments  at  least  of  the  future,  amid  the  elements  of  the 
present  life.  Our  part  then  is  to  examine  in  succession 
the  several  constituents  of  our  corporeal  existence,  and 
to  consider  of  what  extensions  each  faculty  may  be  sus- 
ceptible, or  how  it  might  be  set  at  large  from  the  limita- 
tions that  actually  confine  it. 

We  take  perhaps  the  most  accessible  path  on  this 
field  of  hypothesis  by  considering,  in  the  first  place,  the 
least  intellectual  of  the  faculties  of  the  mind  —  namely, 
its  power  to  originate  motion.  Now  this  power,  mys- 
terious as  it  is,  may  be  conceived  of  as  applied  in  a  dif- 
ferent manner,  and  so  as  to  involve  a  great  and  desira- 
ble extension  of  our  range  of  corporeal  activity  and  en- 
joyment. It  was  an  ancient  opinion,  to  which  modern 
philosophy  also  inclines  —  that  motion,  in  every  case,  is 
the  product  of  mind,  and  that  though  transmitted  and 
continued  through  various  means,  it  never  commences 
except  in  a  volition,  either  of  the  Supreme  Mind,  or  of 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  47 

created  minds.  This  doctrine  may  well  have  been  sug- 
gested by  our  consciousness,  with  which  it  exactly  com- 
ports. The  mere  volition  is  followed  by  muscular  action, 
and  the  process  is  absolutely  simple  and  instantaneous  ; 
nor  does  any  thought  of  the  physical  apparatus  —  the 
muscular  contractions,  the  tendinous  attachments,  or 
the  bony  fulcra,  enter  into  the  mental  operation.  In 
fact  there  is  no  process  at  all ;  there  is  no  circuit  of  acts 
or  preparations  :  motion  follows  will,  just  as  perception 
follows  the  impact  of  vibrations  —  without  interval :  will 
and  motion  are  immediately  conjoined,  and  the  organic 
and  mechanical  structure  by  which  it  is  effected  are 
modes  only  through  which  the  power  of  the  mind  is  de- 
fined, and  is  directed  in  a  particular  line  of  movement. 

The  vis  inertice  of  matter,  the  tendency  of  gravitation, 
and  the  resistance  of  the  atmosphere,  are  all  met  and  in- 
stantaneously overcome  by  a  direct  mechanical  force  — 
a  force  which  is  not  that  of  bones,  tendons,  and  muscu- 
lar fibres ;  but,  the  force  of  mind.  Bones,  tendons, 
nerves,  and  muscles,  do  in  fact  come  between  mind  and 
matter ;  but  it  is  as  instruments  only,  and  as  a  staff  or  a 
chord  intervenes  between  the  hand  and  the  body  that  is 
moved  by  it.  The  expansive  force  of  heat,  as  applied 
in  the  vaporization  of  water,  is  not  a  more  direct  mechan- 
ical force  than  is  the  impulsive  power  of  the  mind  in 
man  and  other  locomotive  animals.  We  are  accustom- 
ed indeed  to  say  that  the  mind  acts  mechanically,  only 
by  exciting  muscular  irritability,  and  the  tension  of  fibres. 
But  is  not  this  assumption  altogether  gratuitous  1  Our 
consciousness  does  not  suggest  any  such  belief:  —  in 
rapidly  and  forcibly  moving  the  hand — in  striking  a  blow, 
we  know  nothing  of  contractile  fibres,  or  of  muscles,  or 
of  a  circuitous  despatching  of  orders  from  the  mind  to 


48 


PHYSICAL      THEORY 


the  brain,  and  from  the  brain  along  the  nervous  chords 
to  such  and  such  muscles,  as  the  case  may  demand. 
The  mind  is  in  the  hand,  and  there  it  originates  the  mo- 
tion ;  it  is  not,  or  not  if  our  consciousness  speak  true,  in 
the  anatomical  or  physiological  mechanism.  This  com- 
plex apparatus  performs  its  part,  at  the  moment  when 
called  upon,  with  as  little  of  our  control  or  interference 
as  do  the  heart,  and  the  intestines,  and  the  liver,  perform 
their  constant  offices. 

JSTor  is  the  mechanical  power  of  the  mind  of  a  slender 
or  evanescent  sort,  like  certain  barely  perceptible  galva- 
nic or  magnetic  influences,  which,  although  they  may 
just  be  detected  in  a  nicely  conducted  and  elaborate  ex- 
periment, elude  common  observation,  and  are  incapable 
of  being  so  far  enhanced  as  to  propel  the  smallest  solid 
mass.  The  mind  impels  matter  with  the  celerity  of 
lightning,  and  with  a  force  that  is  bounded,  as  it  seems, 
only  by  the  adhesive  strength  of  the  engine  it  employs  ; 
that  is  to  say,  by  the  solidity  of  the  bones,  the  tenacity  of 
the  ligatures,  and  tendons,  and  by  the  degree  in  which 
the  irritability  of  the  fleshy  substance  may  be  wrought 
upon.  That  the  inherent  power  of  the  mind  is  in  fact 
limited  by  the  strength  of  the  materials  it  employs  (just 
as  the  expansive  force  of  steam  is  limited  by  the  strength 
of  copper  and  iron)  becomes  evident  in  those  instances 
in  which,  from  want  of  a  due  caution,  it  actually  breaks 
up  or  rends  its  own  animal  machinery.  Acting  through 
the  medium  of  a  lever  of  that  sort  in  which  velocity  is 
gained  at  the  cost  of  power,  it  yet  puts  in  motion  masses 
greater  in  bulk  and  heavier  than  the  animal  frame  ;  and 
were  the  whole  muscular  energy  of  a  robust  man  to  be 
applied  in  one  direction,  and  through  the  means  of  a  lever 
of  the  first  order,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  crush  or  to 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  49 

burst  far  stronger  materials  than  those  which  compose 
the  animal  body.  An  habitual  and  unconscious  discre- 
tion is,  in  truth,  acquired  early  in  life,  which  checks  our 
muscular  efforts,  and  leads  us  to  refrain  from  the  full 
exertion  of  the  power  we  might  exert,  lest  injury  should 
be  done  to  the  vascular  system,  or  to  the  tendons,  or  to 
the  ligatures  and  fascia. 

A  man  in  full  health  is  capable  of  far  greater  efforts 
than  he  ordinarily  permits  himself  to  make ;  and  when 
this  habitual  restraint  is  thrown  aside,  as  in  cases  of  sud- 
den peril,  or  of  delirium  and  madness,  the  inherent  me- 
chanical force  of  mind  is  displayed,  and  it  is  seen  that 
one  lunatic  or  one  desperate  man  exerts  a  power  with 
which  five  or  six  in  their  ordinary  senses  can  hardly 
cope.  This  same  force,  otherwise  applied,  would  be 
enough,  and  much  more  than  enough  to  overcome  the 
vis  inertias  and  the  gravitation  of  the  body,  and  to  impart 
to  it  a  velocity  greater  than  that  of  the  swiftest  of  birds. 

Furthermore,  in  the  animal  structure  the  force  of  the 
mind  is  limitted,  not  only  in  its  amount  by  the  strength  of 
the  organic  materials,  but  in  its  direction  also  by  the  sys- 
tem of  articulation,  and  by  the  specific  arrangement  of 
the  muscles.  A  door,  however  impelled,  can  only  re- 
volve on  its  hinges  :  the  piston  can  play  perpendicularly 
only ;  and  the  limbs  have  their  appointed  movement  — 
prone  or  supine,  lateral  or  rotatory,  and  always  in  con- 
formity with  a  definite  mechanism.  One  part  of  this 
mechanism  consists  of  the  nervous  communication  be- 
tween the  limb  and  the  brain.  Sever  or  tie  the  nervous 
chord,  and  the  muscles  no  longer  receive  from  the  cerebral 
mass  or  spinal  process  that  pabulum  of  irritability  which 
they  require :  the  mind,  in  that  case,  does  not  take  effect 


50  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

upon  the  limb.  It  may  be  said  indeed  that  the  nervous 
chord  is  the  channel  not  of  muscular  excitement,  but  of 
volition,  which,  taking  place  in  the  brain,  is  supposed  to 
run  along  the  thread,  conveying  itself  duly  to  this,  that, 
and  the  other  muscles,  to  flectors,  pronators,  supinators, 
&c.  as  is  needed  to  perform  the  intended  movement. 
But  how  is  any  such  gratuitous  supposition  proved,  or 
even  made  to  appear  probable  ?  All  we  are  conscious 
of  is  —  the  volition;  and  all  we  learn  from  physiology 
is,  that  muscular  contraction  requires  a  certain  galvanic 
influence,  of  which  influence  the  brain  appears  to  be  the 
secreting  viscus,  and  the  nerves,  the  channel.  The  hand 
cannot  follow  the  mind  unless  constantly  supplied  with 
blood  by  the  heart,  and  with  galvanic  excitement  by  the 
brain ;  nor  can  the  stomach  digest  food  unless  in  the 
same  manner  it  be  supplied  with  both,  from  the  heart, 
and  from  the  brain :  but  it  is  not  the  heart  that  digests 
the  food,  nor  is  it  the  brain  that  digests  it ;  but  the  living 
power,  with  its  solvents,  in  the  coats  of  the  stomach ; 
and  thus,  as  we  suppose,  it  is  not  the  brain  that  moves 
the  hand,  in  any  other  sense  than  that  in  which  it  may 
be  said  that  the  heart  does  so,  although  the  functions  of 
both  are  indispensable  to  motion ;  but  it  is  the  mind,  pre- 
sent in  the  hand  and  arm,  that  is  the  actual  power. 

But  the  inference  we  have  in  view,  in  connexion  with 
our  immediate  subject,  is  not  dependent  upon  the  hypo- 
thesis we  may  adopt  concerning  the  occult  process  of 
muscular  movement ;  for  whether  we  suppose,  as  the  au- 
thor is  inclined  to  do,  that  the  mind  impels  the  limb  im- 
mediately, and  that  the  influence  derived  from  the  brain, 
through  the  nervous  chord,  is  subsidiary  only ;  or  whe- 
ther we  think  that  volition,  affecting  the  brain  immedi- 
ately, is  thence  conveyed  to  the  muscles,  it  will  still  be 


OF     ANOTHER 

true  that  mind  puts  matter  in  movement ; 
last  named  supposition  the  influence  must  be  considered 
as  chemical ;  whereas,  on  the  former  supposition,  it  is 
simply  mechanical.  In  the  one  case,  as  well  as  the  other, 
inert  matter  is  put  into  vehement  action,  and  it  is  quite  as 
easy  to  conceive  of  the  one  species  of  movement,  as  of 
the  other,  as  originated  by  mind. 

We  are  then  free  to  adopt  the  hypothesis,  which 
seems  the  simpler  of  the  two,  namely,  that  animal  mo- 
tion springs  immediately  from  the  inherent  mechanical 
power  of  the  mind  over  matter,  which  it  impels  at  will, 
hither  and  thither,  with  a  volecity  like  that  of  light,  and 
with  a  force  that,  so  far  as  we  know,  is  limitted  only  by 
the  tenacity  of  the  tendinous  chords,  and  by  the  strength 
of  the  coats  of  the  vessels. 

But  in  like  manner  as  sensation  is  confined,  in  the  ani- 
mal organization,  to  particular  points,  or  to  surfaces  of 
nervous  excitability  ;  so  is  the  mechanical  force  of  the 
mind  restricted  to  those  flexions  and  rotations  which  the 
joints  will  admit  of,  and  which  the  muscles  may  perform. 
Nothing  more  therefore  can  be  done  by  a  machinery 
such  as  this,  but  change  the  relative  position  of  the  limbs, 
and  so,  by  throwing  the  centre  of  gravity  forward  or 
backward,  on  this  side,  or  on  that,  to  effect  locomotion. 
The  flight  of  birds,  the  swimming  of  fishes,  and  the  walk- 
ing, running,  and  leaping  of  land  animals  are  mere  adapt- 
ations of  an  altered  relative  position  of  the  limbs,  taking 
effect  suddenly  and  forcibly  upon  resisting  bodies. 

Let  it  however  be  supposed  that  muscular  action  takes 
place  in  the  circuitous  mode  of  chemical  excitement, 
which  we  have  stated ;  and  in  this  case  it  is  easy  to  con- 
ceive of  the  very  same  power  (nor  need  it  be  greater) 


52  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

acting  upon,  or  through  the  medium  of,  a  corporeal 
structure  absolutely  infrangible,  and  indestructible  ;  and 
it  would  then  suffice  for  effecting  locomotion  by  impul- 
sion upon  a  resisting  medium  in  a  manner  analogous  to 
the  flight  of  birds,  but  greatly  surpassing  it  in  velocity. 
This  supposition,  though  easily  admitted,  we  should 
not  entertain ;  but  should  prefer  the  hypothesis  that,  in 
the  future  spiritual  body,  whether  or  not  the  mechanical 
apparatus  shall  be  altogether  superseded,  the  entire  cor- 
poreal mass  shall  be  liable  to  a  plenary  mental  influence, 
equably  diffused,  and  although  still  subject  to  the  vis  in- 
ertias and  gravitation  that  are  proper  to  matter,  both  shall 
be  overcome,  at  will,  by  the  embodied  mind,  so  that  the 
locomotion  of  the  whole  shall  follow  volition,  as  now  the 
relative  motion  of  the  lips  follows  it.  This  we  consider 
to  imply  nothing  more  than  the  setting  the  inherent  me- 
chanical power  of  the  mind  at  large,  and  the  breaking  up 
its  restriction  to  the  muscular  structure  and  the  osseous 
articulations.  A  body  thus  informed  throughout,  by  the 
energy  of  mind,  might  be  either  subtile  and  ethereal,  like 
the  magnetic  fluid  ;  or  it  might  be  as  dense  and  ponder- 
ous as  gold,  or  as  adamant ;  for  the  most  elastic  gas  is 
in  itself  not  at  all  more  self-motive  than  a  block  of  gran- 
ite ;  and  it  is  a  mere  illusion  to  imagine  that  the  one 
might  more  readily  be  affected  by  the  volitions  of  mind 
than  the  other.  The  seraph  who  steers  his  course  at 
pleasure  from  sun  to  sun,  and  who  overtakes  the  swift- 
est of  the  planets  in  its  orbit,  may  corporeally  possess  an 
invisible  and  imponderable  ether,  or  (which  is  equally 
credible)  he  may  command  a  gigantic  body,  solid  as  por- 
phyry. The  two  suppositions  stand  on  the  same  ground 
of  abstract  probability  ;  for  matter,  in  relation  to  rnind, 
is  one  and  the  same,  and  always  inert  and  passive. 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  53 

The  first  article  then  of  our  hypothesis  concerning 
the  future  spiritual  body  involves  nothing  more  than  an 
extension  of  a  power  now  actually  exerted  by  the  mind, 
and  which  is  easily  conceived  of  as  set  free  from  its  mus- 
cular restrictions,  in  such  a  manner  as  should  allow  of 
locomotion  by  simple  volition,  as  well  as  of  the  power 
to  put  external  masses  in  movement.  Nevertheless,  in- 
asmuch as  a  corporeal  structure  must  involve  the  limita- 
tions that  attach  necessarily  to  matter,  it  may  well  be 
supposed  that  this  locomotive  faculty,  how  wide  soever 
its  range,  will  yet  be  a  force  related  to  other  forces,  and 
counterpoised  by  a  definite  resistance  —  it  will  have  its 
calculable  velocity,  and  its  limit  which  it  will  not  pass. 

A  fit  occasion  will  present  itself  in  the  following  pages, 
for  adverting  to  the  probable  uses  and  consequences  of 
this  enlarged  power  of  locomotion  ;  but  that  it  actually 
awaits  human  nature  might  be  plausibly  inferred  on  the 
ground  that  the  muscular  force  is  now  felt  to  be  —  a 
power  restrained ;  a  faculty  equal  to  much  more  than  is 
as  yet  permitted  to  it :  and  perhaps,  with  not  a  few  indi- 
viduals, the  conscious  mechanical  energy  is  strictly  an- 
alogous to  that  of  a  strong  man  fettered  and  handcuffed, 
who  meditates  what  he  will  do  when  set  at  large.  Is 
there  not  a  latent,  or  a  half  latent  instinct  in  the  mind 
which  speaks  of  a  future  liberty  of  ranging  at  will 
through  space  ?  There  are  some,  perhaps,  who  will  ad- 
mit that  they  have  indistinct  anticipations  of  this  sort, 
quite  as  strong  as  are  those  moral  and  intellectual  aspi- 
rations after  immortality  which  have  been  considered 
good  presumptive  proofs  of  the  reality  of  a  future  life.* 

*  The  author  would  be  very  slow  to  seek  support  to  an  argu- 
ment, such  as  the  one  now  in  hand,  from  scriptural  expressions 


54  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

which,  probably,  ought  to  be  interpreted  in  a  spiritual  sense  only  ; 
he  will  therefore  merely  name  the  often  quoted  passage  (Isaiah 
xl.  21,)  as  possibly  having  a  secondary  reference  to  the  future  cor- 
poreal powers  of  the  sons  of  God, —  "They  shall  renew  their 
strength — they  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles  •  they  shall 
run  and  not  be  weary,  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint." 


OF    ANOTHER     LIFE. 


55 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    SECOND  AND    THIRD   SUPPOSED    PREROGATIVES   OF 
THE     SPIRITUAL    ECONOMY. 

THUS  far  our  hypothesis  trenches  very  little  upon  the 
ground  of  mere  conjecture,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  go 
on  in  the  same  direction,  imagining  the  mind,  in  its  new 
corporeal  lodgement,  to  gain  a  power  over  some  other  of 
the  properties  of  matter,  beside  the  vis  inertice  and  grav- 
itation ;  and  that  it  may  be  able  to  put  in  activity  certain 
chemical  affinities.  Of  this  supposed  influence  we  find 
what  is  very  nearly  an  actual  instance,  or  at  the  least, 
an  indication,  in  the  chemical  assimilations,  and  the  se- 
creting functions,  which  belong  to  animal  life, and  which, 
if  not  immediately  effected  by  an  unconscious  mental 
agency,  are  unquestionably  to  a  great  extent  under  the 
indirect  influence  of  the  mind,  acting  upon  them  in  the 
way  both  of  acceleration  and  abatement.  Animal  life, 
in  its  various  functions,  —  that  mysterious  energy  which 
we  name,  but  can  never  define,  and  never  expose  to  view, 
— may  perhaps  consist  in  the  power  of  mind  over  such  of 
the  properties  of  matter  as  may  be  made  available  for  the 
special  purposes  of  animal  organization.  Mind,  incor- 
porate, unconsciously  indeed,  but  as  directed  by  the  cre- 
ative energy,  combines  or  dissolves,  takes  up  or  rejects, 
the  elements  with  which  it  comes  in  contact,  and  thus 
lives,  if  we  might  so  speak,  by  its  own  discretive  act. 
Now  this  same  power  over  the  chemical  affinities  of 


56 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 


matter,  may,  like  the  power  of  the  mind  over  masses  of 
matter,  be  enlarged  in  another  state.  But  we  leave  this 
conjecture  and  pass  on. 

Nothing  however  can  be  more  natural  than  the  sup- 
position that  the  passivity  of  the  mind,  or  its  conscious- 
ness of  some  of  the  properties  of  matter  through  the 
senses,  shall  in  the  future  corporeal  frame,  be  made  to 
include  other  of  those  properties.  The  mind,  as  we  have 
already  observed,  is  no  doubt  inherently  percipient  of 
light,  heat,  sound,  solidity,  and  the  several  properties 
that  affect  the  olfactory  and  gustatory  organs;  for  if  it 
were  not  so,  there  is  little  reason  to  believe  that  any  or- 
ganic apparatus,  any  expansion  of  nervous  filaments, 
could  endure  it  with  this  faculty.  On  the  same  ground 
we  assume  the  mind  to  possess  an  inherent  or  essential 
mechanical  force;  yet  a  force  that  can  be  exerted  only 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  corporeal  structure.  But 
as  the  several  species  of  perception  are  rendered  distinct, 
and  are  adapted  to  the  special  purposes  of  animal  and 
rational  life  by  being  separately  attached  each  to  its  or- 
gan of  sensation,  each  of  these  contrivances,  admirable 
as  it  is,  must  be  regarded  as  a  limitation  of  the  general 
percipient  faculty  of  the  mind,  and  as  restricting  it,  as 
well  in  regard  to  the  extent  and  the  delicacy  of  its  per- 
ceptions, as  to  the  variety  or  kinds  of  them.  The  organs 
of  sense  are  so  many  adjustments  of  nervous  sensibility, 
intended  to  concentrate  the  mind,  at  different  times,  upon 
single  properties  of  the  external  world,  with  a  view  to 
the  better  securing  of  particular  purposes.  The  senses 
are  adits  of  knowledge ;  and  because  adits,  therefore 
exclusive  and  restrictive  means  of  information.  It  is 
upon  the  retina,  and  there  only,  that  the  mind  converses 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  57 

with  light  and  colours :  — it  is  with  the  tympanum,  and 
there  only,  that  the  mind  converses  with  the  modulated 
vibrations  of  the  air  :  —  it  is  upon  the  tongue  that  it  dis- 
criminates certain  chemical  differences  of  the  substan- 
ces to  be  taken  into  the  stomach.  But  we  cannot  sup- 
pose that,  abstractedly,  these  several  properties  could 
not  affect  the  mind  in  any  other  mode,  or  at  any  other 
points.  Doubtless  it  might  bring  its  percipient  faculty 
into  contact  with  these  properties  of  matter  more  at 
large  and  under  fewer  limitations  ;  and  might  also  gain 
acquaintance  with  other  properties  than  those  to  which 
the  five  organs  of  sensation  extend.  The  medullary 
substance  we  may  easily  suppose  to  be  laid  open  to  sen- 
sation otherwise  than  it  actually  is,  and  also  to  be  endu- 
ed with  a  more  exquisite  or  refined  sensibility.  The 
discrimination  of  colours,  through  the  touch,  by  the  blind, 
and  the  many  instances  that  have  occurred  in  which  the 
want  of  one  or  more  of  the  senses  has  been  compensa- 
ted by  an  enhanced  sensibility  of  the  remaining  organs, 
afford  proof  enough,  or  as  we  should  perhaps  say,  give 
indication,  of  what  may  be  called  the  versatility  of  the 
percipient  faculty,  and  establish  the  fact  that  this  power 
is  inherently  much  greater  than,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, it  seems  to  be. 

The  animal  organization,  with  its  medullary  mass  and 
nervous  expansions,  may  be  regarded,  not  merely  as  a 
means  of  sensation,  but  as  a  means  of  abatement,  or  as 
a  sheath,  defending  the  percipient  faculty  of  the  mind, 
except  at  certain  points,  from  the  too  forcible  impres- 
sions of  the  external  world.  The  body,  as  we  suppose, 
is  to  the  mind  an  envelope,  or  a  rough  coating  which 
serves  to  prevent  its  being  either  overborne,  or  unduly 
stimulated  by  the  otherwise  continuous  influx  of  various 
6 


58  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

and  powerful  excitements.  The  mind  perhaps,  in  this 
its  present  initial  stage  of  existence,  might  scarcely  be 
able  to  assert  its  rational  supremacy,  or  to  exercise  its 
proper,  intellectual,  and  moral  functions,  if  it  were  ex- 
posed to  as  much  sensation  as  it  is  inherently  capable  of 
receiving.  But  in  its  next  stage  of  life,  and  when  its  ac- 
tive and  higher  principles  have  become  mature, it  may  be 
well  able  to  sustain,  and  advantageously  to  use,  a  much 
more  ample  correspondence  with  the  material  world 
than  would  now  be  good  or  possible. 

The  boldest  supposition  we  can  entertain,  on  this  sub- 
ject, ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  unphilosophical  or  ex- 
travagant, while  we  have  proof  before  us  of  those  vast 
extensions  of  our  means  of  knowledge  that  have  accrued 
from  the  improvement  of  the  merely  mechanical  aids  of 
the  senses.  Let  the  well  known  facts  be  simply  stated 
and  duly  considered.  —  The  nearest  of  the  fixed  stars  is 
at  a  greater  distance  from  our  system  than  19,200,000,- 
000,000  miles,  and  the  most  remote  of  those  that  are  dis- 
tinctly visible  by  the  telescope,  are  probably  twice  that 
distance,  or  much  more.  Nevertheless  the  transmission 
of  light  through  that  incalculable  space  is  exact  and  pre- 
cise ;  and  when,  by  the  means  of  the  refracting  power  of 
some  few  lenses,  the  remote  object  is  made  to  subtend 
a  larger  angle  than  it  does  to  the  naked  eye,  then  the  eye 
with  ease  converses  with  that  object,  and  perceives  that 
what  seemed  one,  is  actually  two  stars,  and  that  these 
two  revolve  around  a  common  centre  of  gravity ;  and 
moreover,  that  the  curve  they  move  in  is  not  a  circle,  but 
an  ellipse.  This,  we  must  say,  infinitely  small  differ- 
ence between  one  kind  of  orbit  and  another,  has  actually 
become  perceptible  to  the  human  eye.  It  is  manifest 
therefore  that,  as  well  the  materials  of  knowledge  as  the 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  59 

faculty  of  knowing,  are  immensely  more  extensive  than, 
to  the  unassisted  senses,  they  appear.  Now  it  cannot 
be  deemed  extravagant  to  suppose  that  instead  of  the  aid 
furnished  to  the  eye  by  the  telescope,  the  percipient 
faculty  might  be  so  exposed  to  the  emanations  of  light 
as  to  be  able  to  distinguish  at  once,  what  it  now  does  dis- 
tinguish by  the  aid  of  refraction.  And  if  it  might  do  this, 
who  shall  say  it  might  not  do  still  more  1  Is  it  philoso- 
phical to  place  a  limit  to  the  range  of  perception?  we 
think  not ;  and  on  the  contrary,  regard  it  as  altogether  a 
probable  supposition,  that  the  same  mind,  which  now  dis- 
cerns spheres,  and  distinguishes  their  motions  at  a  dis- 
tance incalculably  remote,  may  hereafter  be  so  advan- 
taged, in  its  organic  structure,  as  to  discern  bodies,  and 
persons,  and  their  movements,  on  the  surfaces  of  the 
planets  of  our  system,  near  as  they  are  to  us  compara- 
tively. If  this  be  a  wild  hypothesis,  it  is  an  hypothesis 
like  that  which  assumes  that  the  infant  who  now  crosses 
the  nursery,  may  in  time,  and  by  the  use  of  the  very  same 
locomotive  powers,  perambulate  the  globe.  The  actual 
discoveries  of  modern  science  are  such  as  to  render  every 
thing  credible  which  can  be  proved  to  come  within  the 
compass  of  abstract  analogies. 

Whatever  is  true,  or  may  be  made  to  appear  probable, 
in  relation  to  vision,  may  be  assumed,  mutatis  mutandis, 
in  relation  to  the  other  senses  ;  and  it  is  not  needful  here 
to  insist  upon  the  particulars.  Our  principle  is  —  That 
Perception  is,  at  present,  a  circumscribed  faculty  ;  and 
we  confidently  anticipate  an  era  when  it  shall  throw  off 
its  confinements,  and  converse  at  large  with  the  material 
universe,  and  find  itself  familiarly  at  home  in  the  height 
and  breadth  of  the  heavens. 

The  five  senses,  we  have  said,  may  be  regarded  as 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 

limitting  the  percipient  faculty,  not  merely  as  to  the  amount 
or  extent  of  the  impressions  we  receive,  but  in  regard 
also  to  the  kinds  of  sensation  which  the  mind  may  be 
inherently  capable  of  admitting.  By  the  means  of  these 
senses  we  become  acquainted  with  some  few  of  the  pro- 
perties of  matter;  but  it  is  only  a  few,  and  the  intimate 
researches  of  our  modern  physical  science  leave  no  room 
to  doubt  that  there  are  many  agencies  in  activity  about 
us,  which,  although  they  make  themselves  known  in  their 
ultimate  consequences,  are  not  directly  cognizable  either 
by  the  eye,  the  ear,  the  touch,  the  taste,  or  the  smell. 
The  external  world,  as  at  present  perceptible  to  man,  in 
five  species,  may,  to  other  sentient  natures  be  percepti- 
ble in  twenty,  or  in  fifty  kinds.  If  the  mind  may  know 
the  difference  of  hot  and  cold,  hard  and  soft,  loud  or  harsh 
and  melodious,  red  and  yellow,  sweet  and  bitter ;  it  may 
discriminate  other  differences,  or  qualities  that  belong  to 
matter,  or  every  other  such  quality.  In  truth  it  is  more 
easy  to  conceive  of  the  mind  as  conversant  with  all  pro- 
perties of  the  external  world,  than  as  conversant  with 
some,  while  it  is  insensible  of  others.  Mind,  as  we  have 
said,  must  be  natively  conscious  of  the  vibratory,  ema- 
native,  and  pungent  powers  of  the  external  world  ;  but  if 
so,  then  we  may  assume  that  it  only  needs  to  be  freed 
from  the  husk  of  animal  organization,  to  know  on  all  sides 
and  perfectly,  that  which  now  it  knows  at  points  only,  and 
in  an  abated  degree.  The  ancient  philosophy  supposed 
there  to  be  four  elements,  or  perhaps  a  fifth ;  but  we  now 
reckon  fifty ;  in  like  manner,  as  now  we  think  of  five 
species  of  perception,  hereafter  we  may  become  familiar 
with  a  hundred,  or  a  thousand. 

Yet  this  is  not  all  that  may  fairly  be  assumed  as  proba- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  61 

ble,  and  as  analogous  to  our  present  powers  —  mere  con- 
jecture not  admitted.  The  senses,  such  as  they  are  under 
the  present  animal  organization,  in  no  instance  go  further 
than  to  give  us  information  concerning  the  last  product 
of  certain  combined  qualities  or  conditions  of  matter. 
Thus  for  example,  we  perceive  colours,  but  we  know 
nothing  (by  the  sense  of  sight)  of  that  state  of  the  sur- 
faces of  bodies,  the  effect  of  which  is  that  they  imbibe 
some  of  the  elements  of  light,  and  throw  off  others  :  — 
the  petals  of  the  poppy  imbibe  and  assimilate  the  yellow 
and  the  blue,  and  with  a  most  decisive  antipathy  reject 
the  fierce  red  of  the  sun's  rays  ;  while  again  the  gentle 
violet  cherishes  the  more  powerful  element  of  light,  and 
refuses  the  pale  and  feeble.  So  do  the  chemical  quali- 
ties of  substances  affect  the  tongue  and  palate,  and  the 
membranes  of  the  nose,  with  a  certain  product  of  their 
combination ;  but  this  combination  itself,  and  its  ingredi- 
ents, and  the  reason  of  its  affinity,  remain  occult.  But 
it  is  conceivable  that  this  INNER  FORM  of  matter,  as  it 
has  been  termed,  may,  as  well  as  the  external  species, 
be  perceptible,  so  that  the  specific  cause  of  solidity,  fluid- 
ity, crystallization,  decomposition,  colour,  taste,  smell, 
musical  relation,  and  other  states,  movements,  and  tran- 
sitions of  matter,  may  be  as  immediately  perceptible  as 
are  now  the  ulterior  products  of  those  states.  Thus, 
besides  knowing  Effects,  we  should  also  know  Causes  ; 
or  to  speak  more  correctly,  should  be  able  to  trace  forms 
and  affinities,  a  stage  or  two  higher  than  now  we  can. 
Instead  of  looking  only  at  the  dial  plate  of  nature,  and  of 
noting  the  hands  and  the  figures,  we  should  be  admitted 
to  inspect  the  wheel-work  and  the  springs  ;  and  this  inner 
perception  of  real  forms  might  well  consist  with  the  simul- 
taneous perception  of  external  species  ;  just  as  our  dis- 
6* 


62  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

section  of  an  animal  does  not  prevent  or  supersede  our 
discernment  of  its  form. 

The  material  universe  (and  the  same,  with  still  more 
meaning,  may  be  said  of  the  intellectual  universe)  is  a  vast 
profound,  upon  the  surface  of  which  we  float,  and  of  which, 
by  direct  consciousness,  we  know  nothing  beyond  the 
surface.  Science,  with  its  methods  of  inference,  carries 
us  a  little  way  beneath  the  forms  and  semblances  of  things, 
and  only  a  little.  Meantime  we  cannot  suppose  the  in- 
terior to  be,  from  any  abstract  necessity,  incognizable  by 
the  human  mind.  Our  knowledge  of  nature  is  like  our 
acquaintance  with  the  globe  we  inhabit,  superficial  only ; 
and  the  operations  of  the  miner,  like  those  of  the  natural 
philosopher,  expose  to  our  view  a  few  fathoms  of  the 
depth,  but  yet  leave  the  abyss  unexplored.  Neverthe- 
less it  is  assuredly  possible,  abstractedly,  that  the  very 
bowels  of  our  planet  should  be  inspected  by  the  human 
eye.  And  so  we  may  assume,  concerning  the  inmost 
recesses  of  the  mechanism  of  the  material  world,  and 
they  might  be  known  by  man. 

Nor  need  any  jealousy  be  entertained,  as  if  this  expo- 
sure of  the  secrets  of  nature  should  tend  to  abate  our 
reverence  towards  our  Creator,  or  breed  in  the  human 
mind  a  presumptuous  familiarity  with  the  divine  opera- 
tions. It  may  indeed  be  well,  and  even  necessary,  while 
in  the  present  world,  where  the  Creator  himself  is  veiled 
from  our  sight,  that  an  impenetrable  veil  of  mystery  should 
be  thrown  over  the  procedures  of  his  power  and  wisdom ; 
and  that  so  a  check  should  be  given  to  the  audacity  of 
reason,  and  an  awe  and  modesty  imposed  upon  minds 
ready  enough  to  build  a  tower  of  pride  that  shall  reach 
to  heaven.  In  the  path  of  any  such  intellectual  arro- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  63 

gance,  we  meet  an  impassable  obstacle,  resulting  from 
the  secrecy  that  attaches  to  the  processes  and  the  con- 
struction of  the  material  world,  —  a  secrecy  such  as  no 
means  of  analysis,  how  exact  and  assiduous  soever,  can 
break  through.  Our  ambition  and  self-esteem  receive 
here  an  effectual  rebuff.  But  it  may,  and  probably  will 
be  otherwise,  when  we  reach  a  more  advanced  stage  of 
our  existence,  and  come  where  the  far  more  stupendous 
mysteries  of  the  divine  nature,  and  of  the  spiritual  uni- 
verse, shall  begin  to  unfold  themselves  to  our  view. 
Then  it  will  be  found  that  the  lower,  and  comparatively 
unimportant  wonders  of  the  material  world,  may  be  looked 
at  with  a  familiar  intuition,  and  this  first  page  of  our 
schooling,  which  now  concentrates  all  our  faculties,  being 
fully  understood,  shall  leave  us  at  leisure  to  learn  a  higher 
lesson. 

We  ought  assuredly  to  believe  that  He  who  has  en- 
dowed his  rational  family  with  powers  fitting  them  to 
comprehend  the  reason  of  his  works,  and  with  a  dispo- 
sition to  admire  what  they  understand,  will  not  in  the  end 
hide  from  them  any  thing  which  they  might  know  with 
safety  and  advantage  ;  and  that  gradually,  as  one  special 
and  temporary  motive  of  concealment  after  another  is 
superseded,  the  veil  will  be  drawn  aside,  so  that  what 
once  was  inscrutable  shall  be  openly  displayed.  These 
progressive  revelations,  instead  of  inflating  intellectual 
vanity,  must  tend  rather  to  inspire  an  ever-growing  awe 
of  the  inexhaustible  wealth  of  the  INFINITE  INTELLI- 
GENCE ;  inasmuch  as  every  such  new  discovery  shall  be 
attended  with  a  new  and  glimmering  perception  of  things 
heretofore  not  imagined  to  exist,  or  so  much  as  whispered 
of  among  even  the  best  informed  of  the  elders  of  im- 
mortality. 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  FOURTH  OF  THESE  ADVANTAGES. 

THE  above  named  probable  extensions  of  the  physical 
powers,  in  the  future  spiritual  body,  have  relation  to  the 
correspondence  of  the  mind  with  the  external  world ; 
and  some  other  like  advantages,  less  clearly  supported 
by  analogy,  might  be  added  ;  but  passing  any  such  con- 
jectures, we  go  on  to  consider  those  expansions  or  new 
adjustments  of  the  corporeal  structure,  the  effect  of 
which  would  be  to  confer  advantage  upon  the  mind  itself, 
in  relation  to  the  exercise  of  its  intellectual  and  moral 
faculties. 

It  can  hardly  be  necessary,  as  a  preliminary  to  this 
portion  of  our  hypothesis,  to  prove  that  all  the  faculties 
of  the  mind,  even  the  loftiest  of  them,  as  well  as  the 
very  purest  of  the  emotions,  are,  in  their  present  corpo- 
real lodgement,  subject  to  much  modification,  and  abate- 
ment, and  limitation,  in  consequence  of  the  dependence 
of  the  mind  upon  the  animal  organization.  In  every 
mental  process,  and  in  every  movement  of  the  affections, 
there  is  an  attendant  organic  action  —  a  subsidiary  opera- 
tion of  the  medullary  mass,  and  of  the  arterial  system, 
not  to  say  of  the  other  vital  organs ;  and  inasmuch  as 
this  accompaniment  is  necessarily  clogged  with  the  con- 
ditions that  attach  to  inert  matter,  the  mind  is  so  far 
bound  down  to  those  conditions,  and  is  restrained  from 
moving  at  any  other  rate  than  that  at  which  the  body 
can  safely  follow,  and  duly  perform  its  part.  Reason 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  65 

(in  man)  is  not  reason  absolute,  but  a  reasoning  faculty 
dependent,  to  a  great  extent,  upon,  and  characterized  by 
the  particular  cerebral  conformation,  and  by  the  con- 
stitution or  temperament  of  the  individual.  The  same 
manifestly  is  true  of  the  purest  and  most  elevated  of  the 
moral  sentiments. 

Among  these  intellectual  powers,  intimately  affected 
by  the  original  structure,  and  by  the  pathology  of  the 
body  in  each  individual,  the  memory  stands  foremost. 
The  memory  is,  in  a  peculiar  sense,  a  function  of  the 
brain ;  and  as  in  the  admission  of  images  of  the  external 
world,  every  thing  depends  upon  the  sensorium,  so  like- 
wise in  the  retention  and  the  reproduction  of  these  ideas, 
the  physical  structure,  and  the  actual  condition,  or  healthy 
action  of  the  cerebral  organ,  determine  its  power  and  its 
activity.  The  memory  grows  with  the  growth  of  the 
body,  strengthens  with  adolescence,  is  the  contemporary 
of  animal  energy ;  and  is  the  first  of  the  mental  powers 
to  betray  the  incipient  decay  of  the  vital  force :  the  gray 
head,  the  impaired  sight,  the  trembling  limb,  and  the 
faithless  memory,  tell  of  the  advance  of  years,  even  while 
reason,  and  perhaps  imagination,  scarcely  seem  to  de- 
cline. Again,  it  is  the  memory  that  is  the  most  directly 
affected  by  external  injuries  of  the  head,  or  by  those 
diseases  that  spend  their  violence  upon  the  brain.  It  is 
the  memory,  moreover,  that  asks  for  and  admits  of  those 
artificial  aids  which  bespeaks  its  intimate  alliance  with 
corporeal  impression.  Thus  it  is  that  any  very  peculiar 
physical  sensation,  recurring  after  a  long  interval,  brings 
to  our  recollection  the  incidental  circumstances  and  the 
mental  state,  at  the  time  of  its  first  occurrence.  In- 
stances of  this  sort  are  various,  and  have  often  been 
adduced,  nor  can  it  be  necessary  here  to  relate  them. 


66  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

It  is  therefore  obvious  that  this  organic  mental  faculty, 
as  at  present  possessed  even  by  the  most  highly  favoured 
individuals,  is  susceptible  of  vast  enhancement  and  ex- 
tension, merely  by  an  enlargement  or  improvement  of 
the  corporeal  constitution.  In  this  there  is  nothing 
conjectural.  But  it  may  be  well  to  consider  what  is 
probably  implied  in  such  an  augmentation  of  the  memory. 

Let  it  then  be  kept  in  view  that,  as  sensation,  in  its 
several  kinds,  or  the  consciousness  we  have  of  the  ex- 
ternal world,  is  a  specific  adaptation  of  the  inherent 
power  of  the  mind  to  perceive  the  properties  of  matter, 
so  is  the  memory  a  particular  adaptation  of  that  original 
and  essential  faculty  of  the  mind  by  which  it  retains  a 
consciousness  of  its  past  states,  and  knows  them  to  be 
past,  and  to  have  been  real,  and  clearly  distinguishes 
them  from  simple  cogitations.  Sensation  has  respect 
to  the  particular  uses  and  purposes  of  the  present  animal 
and  intellectual  life  ;  and  so  likewise  the  faculty  of 
memory,  as  now  enjoyed,  has  respect  to  the  special 
purposes  of  our  present  condition  :  so  much  of  it  is 
granted  to  us  as  we  actually  need,  but  not  more ;  or  at 
least  by  no  means  all  that  is  abstractedly  possible.  As 
sensationis  a  limittedconsciousness  of  the  external  world, 
so  is  memory  a  limitted  and  incidental  recollection  of  our 
past  states  of  feeling  ;  it  is  a  partial  exercise  of  a  larger 
power,  which,  in  adapting  itself  to  the  occasions  of  active 
life,  forfeits,  or  holds  in  abeyance,  its  plenary  preroga- 
tives. Considered  as  a  function  of  the  brain,  the  memory 
retains  what  it  retains,  and  reproduces  what  it  reproduces, 
according  to  the  law  of  an  arbitrary,  and  often  accidental 
connexion  of  ideas.  The  power  which  in  its  original 
capacity  might  fill  a  broad  field,  does  in  fact  only  beat  a 
narrow  path,  and  gropes  its  way  backward  over  the 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  67 

ground  it  has  traversed,  in  search  of  what  it  has  dropped. 
Or,  to  change  our  comparison,  the  memory  is  a  book, 
the  blank  leaves  of  which  are  constantly  filling,  but  of 
which  the  written  portion  never  lies  outspread  before  us  ; 
and,  moreover,  the  paper  is  of  frail  texture,  and  the  ink 
evanescent,  and  the  entries  are  often  made  in  such  haste, 
or  so  carelessly,  that  they  soon  become  totally  illegible. 
The  memory  furnishes  a  partial  and  fortuitous  sample  of 
facts;  but  it  by  no  means  (not  even  in  the  most  eminent 
instances)  exhibits  a  complete  collection  of  whatever 
it  has  received. 

Yet  with  all  its  incompleteness  and  its  frailties  the 
memory  serves  sufficiently  the  ordinary  purposes  of  life, 
active,  intellectual,  and  moral  ;  nor  is  it  very  difficult  to 
imagine  the  reasons  which  may  make  even  these  dis- 
paragements a  proper  part  of  our  condition  in  the  present 
state.  Perhaps  if  our  impressions  of  the  past  were  not 
in  some  such  manner  abated,  and  borne  down,  or  ob- 
scured and  obliterated,  there  would  in  most  minds  be 
certain  vivid  recollections  which  would  continue  to  usurp 
the  entire  consciousness,  and  so  exclude  the  present, 
with  its  fainter  sensations,  its  interests  and  duties  ;  and 
we  might  thus  be  liable  to  long  seasons  of  abstraction, 
during  which  we  should  stand  like  statues  amid  the 
urgent  affairs  of  the  passing  moment.  Such,  in  fact,  is 
the  misfortune  of  a  class  of  morbid  minds.  But  this 
necessity  for  abating  the  vividness  of  the  memory  is 
temporary  only ;  and  it  is  easy  to  imagine  such  an  en- 
hancement of  the  active  force  of  the  mind,  in  relation  to 
the  passing  moment,  as  should  fully  counterpoise  the 
influence  of  even  the  most  distinct  and  vivid  recollection 
of  scenes  gone  by.  Let  but  the  voluntary  principle  be 
proportionately  invigorated,  and  then  the  mind  might 


68  PHYS1CALTHEORY 

enjoy  a  full,  permanent,  and  bright  consciousness  of  all 
that  it  has  ever  known,  felt,  and  performed  :  —  it  might 
repossess  itself  of  its  entire  past  existence,  and  might 
thus  continue  to  enjoy  (or  to  endure)  an  evergrowing 
and  plenary  recollection  of  its  various  successive  states  : 
it  might  every  moment  live  its  whole  life  over  simultane- 
ously, and  with  an  infallible  accuracy  might  be  conscious 
of  all  the  circumstances  and  shades  of  every  portion  of 
its  being.  However  much  such  a  full  consciousness  of 
the  past  might  seem  to  exceed,  in  kind  as  well  as  in 
amount,  our  present  partial  and  fallacious  recollections, 
it  would  nevertheless  be  only  the  same  power  of  the 
mind,  set  free  from  physical  obstructions  and  infirmities. 

The  memory,  even  in  its  present  state,  and  affected  as 
it  is  by  the  conditions  of  animal  life,  might  be  brought 
near  to  the  perfection  we  have  supposed  (and  in  a  few 
recorded  instances  it  has  been)  if  it  were  absolutely  ex- 
empted from  the  accidental  obstructions  arising  from  a 
turgid  state  of  the  cerebral  vessels  —  a  flaccid  state  of 
the  cerebral  substance  —  a  slight  compression  —  a  con- 
fusion connected  with  derangement  of  the  digestive  or- 
gans, and  the  like.  The  spiritual  body  then,  in  itself 
indestructible  and  exempt  from  the  liability  to  animal  de- 
cay, may  allow  the  mental  faculty  to  spread  itself  out  to 
the  full ;  —  or  as  if  an  inscription,  which  heretofore  had 
been  committed  to  a  leaf,  or  papyrian  scroll,  was  now 
transferred  to  a  fair  and  ample  surface  of  Parian  marble. 

Memory,  we  say,  is  a  corporeal-mental  power,  and  it 
is  so,  not  only  as  physiologically  dependent  upon  the 
state  of  the  cerebral  mass,  but  also  in  a  higher  and  more 
intellectual  sense,  which  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  in 
relation  to  our  present  argument.  Mind,  absolutely  un- 


OF    AN  OTHER    LIFE.  69 

embodied,  and  cut  off  from  all  connexion  with  the  mate- 
rial universe,  would  not  (as  we  have  conjectured)  retain 
the  .power  of  noting  the  epochs  of  its  existence,  or  the 
equal  periods  of  duration.  In  such  an  insulated  condi- 
tion, it  is  probable,  that  the  entire  consciousness,  com- 
prising as  well  the  acts  of  the  mind,  as  its  passive  states, 
and  its  emotions,  instead  of  constituting  a  continuous 
history,  or  a  series  of  changes,  the  one  coming  on  as 
the  other  recedes,  would  assume  the  appearance  of  a  va- 
rious aggregate  of  abstractions,  or  as  if  simultaneously 
existing,  and  would  be  associated  with  no  idea  of  the 
past  and  the  present ;  nor  be  attended  with  an  anticipa- 
tion of  the  future.  Whether  such  a  condition  of  being 
could  consist  at  all  with  the  exercise  of  active  faculties  is 
not  clear ;  but  it  is  hard  to  think  that  it  would  comport 
with  that  progressive  developement  of  principles  and  of 
character  which  belong  to  the  moral  life.  The  moral 
life  is,  in  a  peculiar  sense  — A  HISTORY  :  it  is  a  process, 
involving  successive  stages,  through  the  course  of  which 
the  unalterable  laws  of  the  spiritual  economy  are  in  turn 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  dispositions  and  conduct  of 
those  who  are  subject  thereto.  Take  away  memory, 
and  we  annul  government,  and  destroy  accountability. 

Now  it  is  as  embodied,  and  as  thereby  conversant 
with  material  objects,  that  the  mind  learns  to  arrange  its 
consciousness  in  a  series,  or  in  other  words,  exercises 
memory.  For  this  faculty,  although  not  exclusively  con- 
versant with  material  objects,  yet  rarely,  if  ever  enter- 
tains any  notions,  as  constituting  part  of  our  past  history, 
unless  connected  with  things  seen,  and  heard,  and  felt. 
Pure  abstract  conceptions  may  indeed  keep  their  place 
in  the  mind ;  but  whenever  the  having  entertained  such 
conceptions  is  remembered,  it  is  only  as  they  may  have 
7 


70  PHYSICALTHEORY 

been  accidentally  conjoined  with  circumstances  of  place, 
or  company,  or  with  physical  sensations.  The  memory 
leans  upon  the  material  world. 

On  both  these  accounts  then,  that  is  to  say,  first,  be- 
cause it  is  peculiarly  dependent  upon  the  bodily  organi- 
zation, and  secondly,  because  it  is  mainly  conversant 
with  images  of  the  external  world,  the  faculty  of  memory 
is  one  which,  with  the  highest  probability,  we  may  ex- 
pect to  be  greatly  extended  and  improved  in  a  new 
and  a  more  refined  corporeal  structure.  The  important 
consequences  of  such  an  extension  of  memory  it  can 
hardly  be  necessary  to  specify.  A  rational  agent,  what- 
ever were  his  other  powers,  who  should  be  totally  desti- 
tute of  memory,  (if  indeed  we  can  at  all  form  such  a  con- 
ception) must  occupy  a  very  low  place  in  the  scale  of 
being  ;  nor  could  either  the  vividness  of  his  momentary 
impressions,  or  the  energy  or  grasp  of  his  reasoning  fac- 
ulties, in  any  degree  compensate  for  the  want  of  an  in- 
telligent recollection  of  his  past  existence.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  being  of  inferior  original  endowments,  but 
yet  gifted  with  a  perfect  and  invariable  consciousness  of 
the  whole  of  his  past  course,  could  hardly  fail  rapidly  to 
accumulate  intellectual  wealth,  and  to  outstrip  those  of 
his  competitors  who  were  not  gifted  in  the  like  manner. 
After  a  time  such  a  being  would  possess  an  amount  of 
consciousness,  if  we  may  so  speak,  which  in  itself  would 
be  opulence  and  power.  Man,  in  the  present  life,  occu- 
pies a  middle  position,  between  these  two  supposed 
cases ;  for  his  memory,  with  all  its  imperfections,  and 
although  it  retains,  at  command,  a  small  portion  only  of 
what  is  committed  to  its  keeping,  yet  retains  enough  to 
secure  the  fruits  of  experience  and  study ;  and  in  what  it 


O.  F     ANOTHER    LIFE.  71 

actually  embraces  and  performs,  it  gives  a  promise  of 
far  greater  things  when  it  shall  be  lodged  in  a  corporeal 
structure,  liable  to  no  decay  or  disturbance. 

A  little  steady  reflection  will  open  to  any  one  who  pur- 
sues the  idea,  many  momentous  consequences  involved 
in  the  supposition  of  an  entire  continuous  recollection 
of  our  past  existence,  or  of  what  might  be  termed,  a  PLE- 
NARY MEMORY.  In  relation  to  the  maturing  of  the  mo- 
ral life,  it  is  this  vivid  consciousness  of  the  whole  series 
of  our  actions  and  emotions,  that  is  needed  for  penetra- 
ting the  mind  with  a  sense  of  its  own  condition,  and  for 
rendering  it  its  own  equitable  censor.  It  is  manifest 
that  those  egregiously  false  estimates  which  we  so  often 
entertain  of  our  own  merits,  gain  entrance  by  favour  of  an 
oblivion  of  the  most  considerable  and  characteristic  por- 
tions of  our  moral  life.  It  is  from  a  full  and  incessant 
recollection  of  the  past,  that  are  to  arise,  if  at  all,  and  in 
a  due  and  necessary  intensity,  those  strivings  of  the  spirit 
with  itself,  and  those  compunctious  agonies  of  the  heart, 
whence  improvement  may  result.  The  trite  motto  on  a 
sun-dial,  non  sine  luminc,  might  aptly  be  transferred  to 
the  human  conscience,  in  relation  to  memory ;  and  we 
may  believe  that  when  its  full  light,  unabated  and  perpet- 
ual, shall  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  soul's  sense  of 
good  and  evil,  then  shall  be  developed,  in  its  dread  pow- 
er, the  force  of  the  moral  principle,  as  implanted  by  God 
incur  bosoms. 

The  abstract  possibility  of  an  entire  restoration  of  me- 
mory, or  of  the  recovery  of  absolutely  the  whole  that  it 
has  ever  contained,  need  not  be  questioned  ;  or  if  it  were , 
an  appeal  might  be  made  to  every  one's  personal  experi- 
ence ;  for  we  suppose  there  are  none  to  whom  it  has  not 


72  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

happened  to  have  a  sudden  recollection  —  a  flashing  of 
some  minute  and  unimportant  incident  of  early  life  or 
childhood ;  and  perhaps  after  an  interval  of  forty  or  sixty 
years.  With  some  persons,  these  unconnected  and  un- 
called for  reminiscences  are  frequent,  and  very  vivid : 
and  they  seem  to  imply  that,  although  the  mind  may 
have  lost  its  command  over  the  entire  stores  of  memory, 
and  may  no  longer  be  able  to  recall  at  will  the  remote, 
passages  of  its  history,  yet  that  the  memory  itself  has  not 
really  parted  with  any  of  its  deposits,  but  holds  them  faith- 
fully (if  not  obediently)  in  reserve,  against  a  season  when 
the  whole  will  be  demanded  of  it.  Might  not  the  hu- 
man memory  be  compared  to  a  field  of  sepulture,  thickly 
stocked  with  the  remains  of  many  generational  But  of 
all  these  thousands  whose  dust  heaves  the  surface,  a  few 
only  are  saved  from  immediate  oblivion,  upon  tablets 
and  urns  ;  while  the  many  are,  at  present,  utterly  ost  to 
knowledge.  Nevertheless  each  of  the  dead  has  left  in 
that  soil  an  imperishable  germ  ;  and  all,  without  distinc- 
tion, shall  another  day  start  up,  and  claim  their  dues. 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  73 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE   FIFTH  AND   SIXTH    HYPOTHETICAL   PREROGATIVES 
OF   THE   SPIRITUAL  BODY. 

WHAT  is  true  of  the  memory,  is  true  also  of  the  law 
of  mental  suggestion,  or  the  association  of  ideas  ;  namely, 
thafit  depends,  in  a  very  intimate  manner,  upon  the  func- 
tions and  condition  of  the  brain,  and  of  other  vital  organs. 
The  unintermitted  current  of  thought  which  constitutes 
the  staple  of  our  consciousness,  and  upon  which  the 
mind  exerts  its  voluntary  power  at  intervals,  and  which 
it  partially  controls,  receives  its  determining  guidance,  in 
each  mind,  from  the  peculiarities  of  the  temperament, 
and  the  habits,  and  the  original  dispositions.  The  rea- 
son why  such  an  idea  follows  such  another,  in  each 
mind,  is  to  be  sought  in  the  conformation,  and  actual 
condition  of  each,  including  very  much  that  is  merely 
physical,  and  proper  to  the  animal  organization.  And 
yet  this  involuntary  and  constitutional  suggestion  of  ideas, 
as  is  well  known,  has  a  most  extensive  influence  in  re- 
gulating the  operations  of  the  higher  and  the  more  active 
faculties.  The  decisions  we  come  to  in  common  life, 
the  style  and  subjects  of  our  ordinary  conversation,  the 
creations  of  the  imagination,  and  even  the  severest  pro- 
cesses of  the  reasoning  faculty,  are  all  modified,  and  are 
often  originated,  by  the  arbitrary  law  of  association,  such 
as  it  is,  in  the  mind  of  the  individual ;  and  this  again,  re- 
sults in  part  from  the  peculiarities  of  the  animal  organi- 
7* 


74  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

zation.  No  one  accustomed  to  retrace  and  to  analyse, 
with  philosophic  curiosity,  the  stream  of  his  involuntary 
ideas,  can  have  failed  to  notice  the  paramount  influence 
of  merely  animal  sensations  over  them.  Especially  dur- 
ing sleep,  when  the  accidental  association  of  ideas  is 
entirely  freed  from  the  control  of  reason,  each  function 
of  life,  and  each  organ,  takes  its  turn  in  the  production 
of  images,  and  emotions.  It  seems  as  if  in  this  move- 
ment and  succession  of  ideas  incessantly  going  on,  sleep- 
ing and  waking,  nature  was  at  work,  mingling  the  hete- 
rogeneous elements  of  the  intellectual  and  the  material 
worlds,  in  preparation  for  the  higher  processes  of  the  ra- 
tional and  moral  life  :  for,  in  fact,  there  is  always  going 
on  a  mental  assimilation,  or  amalgamation,  wherein  the 
species  of  the  external  universe  are  being  blended  with 
the  materials  of  reason,  and  with  the  emotions.  This 
involuntary  process  is  a  concocting  of  that  upon  which 
the  mind  is  afterwards,  to  nourish  itself. 

Throughout  the  period  of  infancy  and  childhood,  the 
involuntary  suggestion  of  ideas  takes  its  course,  almost 
uncontrolled;  and  it  again  flows  on  at  random  in  seasons 
of  debility,  delirium,  or  insanity,  and  also  through  the 
closing  years  of  senile  decay.  But  the  mental  and  moral 
advancement  that  distinguishes  youth  and  manhood,  con- 
sists in  the  gradual  (or  partial)  substitution  of  a  rational 
and  real,  for  a  fortuitous  law  of  suggestion  ;  or,  in  other 
words,  of  a  voluntary,  instead  of  an  involuntary  series  of 
thoughts.  A  vigorous  and  mature  mind  is  one  in  which 
the  real  relations  of  things,  and  not  their  accidental  con- 
nexions, bring  them  forward,  and  determine  either  their 
continuance,  as  objects  of  thought,  or  their  speedy  dis- 
missal. It  is  easy  then  to  imagine  a  state  wherein  the 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE.  75 

organic  and  accidental  suggestion  of  ideas  should  wholly 
disappear,  and  be  succeeded  by  a  law  of  association 
purely  rational ;  so  that  each  successive  state  of  the 
mind  should  be  the  true  and  just  consequence  of  its  pre- 
ceding state,  and  of  actual  impressions,  and  always  ac- 
cording to  the  rule  of  abstract  fitness.  Thus  analogy 
would  come  in  the  place  of  contingency,  and  truth  be 
substituted  for  accident. 

Constituted  as  we  are  at  present,  the  body,  with  its 
ever- varying  conditions,  with  the  fumes  of  its  laborato- 
ries, with  its  appetites  and  its  ills,  sways  the  mental 
being ;  and  it  is  only  at  intervals  that  the  mind  fully  as- 
serts its  proper  supremacy.  But  the  future  spiritual 
body,  as  we  may  safely  assume,  will  be  the  instrument 
—  and  the  mere  instrument  of  the  mind,  and  in  every 
respect  will  be  subordinate  to  it.  That  more  excellent 
corporeal  structure,  whether  it  be  dense  or  ethereal, 
whether  tangible  or  not,  is  not  destined  to  lead  the  way, 
or  to  give  law,  in  any  sense,  to  the  intellect :  it  will  not 
either  suggest  ideas  or  infuse  emotions :  it  will  not  whis- 
per its  own  interests  to  the  soul ;  for  it  will  have  none 
apart  from  those  of  the  mind ;  nor  will  it  steal  an  advan- 
tage upon  reason,  to  insinuate  its  desires.  Reason  and 
moral  sentiment,  in  full  vigour,  will  pursue  their  course, 
and  be  liable  to  no  interior  disturbance  —  to  no  privy 
conspiracy  —  to  no  silent  and  insidious  attraction.  Our 
present  state  is  one  of  alternation  between  the  active  and 
passive  faculties,  the  latter  chiefly  prevailing ;  but  the  fu- 
ture being  will,  as  we  suppose,  be  active  only,  and  al- 
ways so.  The  human  mind  now  may  be  compared  to 
a  lake  among  the  mountains,  exposed  to  gusts  and  ed- 
dies from  every  ravine  that  opens  upon  its  margin  ;  and 
troubled  too  by  guggling  springs  from  beneath.  But  the 


76  PHYSICALTHEORY 

same  mind,  in  its  future  state,  may  more  resemble  a  river, 
profound  and  copious,  which,  with  a  steady  movement, 
pursues  its  way  in  one  direction,  and  with  a  force  that 
clears  all  obstacles,  and  bears  along  whatever  floats  on 
its  surface. 

The  supposition  we  are  now  entertaining  deserves  a 
little  further  consideration.  That  the  mind  is  itself  inert, 
or  is  disposed  to  subside  into  a  state  of  torpor,  is  what 
we  should  be  slow  to  believe ;  and  it  is  better  to  attribute 
its  apparent  sluggishness  to  its  connexion  with  animal 
organization  than  to  think  it  inherently  inactive.  It  is 
certain  that  no  intellectual  process  can  be  carried  on 
apart  from  a  concurrent  evolution  of  the  cerebral  organ, 
which  of  course,  because  it  belongs  to  the  animal  struc- 
ture, can  be  sustained  only  for  a  time,  and  soon  gene- 
rates fatigue,  and  a  sense  of  pain.  Thinking,  therefore, 
like  every  other  voluntary  animal  function,  has  its  brief 
period  of  excitement,  and  its  consequent  season  of  ex- 
haustion. Thus  the  mind  is  subject  to  lassitude,  be- 
cause it  cannot  act  except  with  the  consent,  and  by  the 
aid  of  the  body,  which  is  essentially  inert,  and  which  de- 
mands stimulants  to  move  it  at  all.  Perpetual  mental 
activity  therefore  is  not  possible  in  the  present  state. 
But  now  let  it  be  supposed,  and  the  supposition  implies 
very  little  that  is  purely  conjectural,  either  that  the  future 
spiritual  body,  as  more  refined,  and  less,  if  at  all,  depen- 
dent upon  stimulants,  shall  perform  its  office  in  the  men- 
tal processes  without  any  sense  of  exhaustion  ;  or,  (and 
this  is  equally  easy  to  imagine,  and  it  is  consistent  too 
with  some  actual  facts,)  that  the  corporeal  part  of  mental 
operations  shall  be  effected  in  a  manner  analogous  to  the 
mechanism  of  the  involuntary  animal  functions,  such  as 


OF  THE 


IUKIVEESI 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE. 

the  pulsation  of  the  heart  and  arteries,  the 
motion  of  the  intestines,  (the  respiration,)  digestion,  and 
the  several  secretions,  all  which  go  on  with  continuous 
regularity,  and  are  not  attended  by  any  conscious  effort, 
nor  produce  any  fatigue.  A  small  change,  perhaps,  in 
the  arrangement  of  parts,  and  in  the  functions  of  the 
brain,  might  suffice  for  effecting  this  important  enhance- 
ment of  our  mental  economy.  Thus  it  is  but  the  open- 
ing, or  the  keeping  open,  of  a  foramen  between  the  right 
and  left  auricle  of  the  heart,  that  enables  an  animal  or 
man  to  live  without  incessant  respiration  ;  and  thus  too, 
as  we  may  fairly  conjecture,  the  branching  off  of  nerves 
higher  or  lower  from  the  brain,  or  the  altered  location  of 
some  cerebral  gland,  might,  even  in  the  present  animal 
body,  allow  of  perpetual  intellectual  activity,  without  ex- 
haustion, and  without  any  conscious  effort.  But  how 
vast  would  be  the  power  so  obtained !  The  mind,  in 
some  such  manner  advantaged,  and  set  free  from  the 
chain  that  forbids  it  to  move  faster,  or  further  at  a  time 
than  the  pulpy  substance  which  fills  the  cranium,  can 
bear,  would  instantly  assume  its  proper  and  its  essential 
vitality,  and  would  work,  day  and  night,  regardless  of 
rest.  Under  the  present  constitution  of  human  nature, 
the  mind  might  be  compared  to  an  Arabian  escort,  at- 
tending a  caravan,  which,  with  its  cumbrous  bales,  and 
its  sick  and  infirm,  drags  its  weary  length  a  stage  or  so 
daily ;  but  only  release  this  escort  from  its  charge,  and 
it  starts  off,  nor  can  hardly  the  winds  overtake  it. 

A  change,  such  as  this,  in  our  mental  economy,  would 
not  merely  augment,  incalculably,  the  mind's  power  and 
its  means  of  advancement,  and  accelerate  its  operations; 
but  would  exclude,  perhaps  entirely,  the  many  illusions, 
humiliations,  and  false  judgements  that  steal  upon  it,  like 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 

a  thief  in  the  night,  during  its  seasons  of  inertness.  Such 
a  new  conformation  of  the  corporeal-mental  system,  by 
allowing  to  the  mind  its  essential  and  constant  activity, 
would  leave  no  room  for  that  fortuitous  suggestion  of 
ideas  which  now  comes  into  play  in  the  alternations  of 
mental  activity.  The  involuntary  series  of  ideas  would 
cede  to  voluntary  and  rational  conceptions ;  and  how 
much  of  the  fatuity  and  caprice  that  attach  to  human 
conduct,  would  be  shut  out,  merely  by  this  substitution ! 
Not  indeed  that  the  supposed  change  would  of  itself 
render  men  wise  and  virtuous;  but  it  would  at  least  ena- 
able  the  wise  and  the  virtuous  to  hold  on  their  course 
with  a  more  even  consistency.  Under  such  an  economy, 
it  is  probable  that  the  good  would  be  much  better  than 
now  they  are,  and  the  bad  much  worse ;  we  may  there- 
fore readily  surmise  the  reason  of  the  actual  constitution 
of  human  nature,  in  this  behalf,  as  fitting  mankind  for  a 
state  wherein  neither  good  nor  evil  is  to  reach  an  abso- 
lute and  unmixed  perfection.  Were  such  a  lusus  na- 
tures, possible,  as  that  a  human  being  should  be  born  in 
whose  brain  the  mental  process,  instead  of  being  con- 
nected with  that  portion  of  the  organ  which  acts  by  oc- 
casional incitements,  should  attach  to  that  portion  which 
keeps  the  involuntary  functions  of  life  in  movement  — 
such  a  man  (ought  we  to  call  him  monster  or  seraph?) 
would,  if  otherwise  eminently  endowed,  reach,  in  early 
life,  the  acme  which  other  men  do  not  attain  till  life  be- 
gins to  wane,  and  in  the  first  years  of  manhood  would  be 
master  of  all  sciences  —  teacher  of  all  wisdom,  and  di- 
rector of  all  affairs. 

Those  who  addict  themselves  to  the  steady  pursuit  of 
truth,  in  any  line  of  thought,  are  well  aware  of  the  dis- 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  79 

turbance,  and  the  disappointment,  that  arise,  notwith- 
standing the  utmost  efforts  to  the  contrary,  first,  from  the 
incessant  intermixture  of  ideas  foreign  to  the  subject  of 
which  the  mind  is  labouring  to  make  itself  master,  and 
which  irrelevant  ideas  take  their  rise  from  the  principle 
of  association  ;  and  then  secondly,  from  the  mere  spend- 
ing of  the  force  of  the  mind,  that  is  to  say  of  its  organic 
force,  just  at  the  moment  when  abstract  notions  are 
coming  into  a  position  of  intelligible  relation,  and  when 
their  correspondence  is  about  to  be  perceived.  The 
same  process,  taken  up  at  another  time,  is  not  found  to 
present  precisely  the  same  elements,  or  not  in  precisely 
the  same  proportions  ;  the  results  therefore  differ  in  the 
issue,  by  a  little  ;  and  so  we  fail  of  the  satisfaction  of  as- 
certaining truth.  In  such  instances  it  is  as  if  the  furnace 
of  the  chemist,  upon  the  continued  intensity  of  which  the 
success  of  a  difficult  experiment  wholly  depends,  were 
supplied  only  with  a  niggard  allowance  of  fuel,  which  is 
almost  always  burnt  out  before  the  ingredients  in  the  cru- 
cible are  completely  assimilated. 

And  it  is  thus  too  that  argument,  orally  conducted,  al- 
most always  fails  of  a  useful  result,  even  where  there 
are  no  motives  of  prejudice,  interest,  or  personal  feeling 
to  pervert  the  judgements  of  the  disputants.  One  of  the 
parties  in  the  controversy  (and  perhaps  both)  is  thrown 
out  of  his  track,  at  almost  every  step,  by  the  frivolous 
and  fortuitous  suggestions  that  spring  from  sounds,  terms, 
and  allusions  ;  and  his  opponent,  weary  of  bringing  him 
back  to  the  line,  or  taking  advantage  of  his  erratic  course, 
abandons  the  question,  and  thinks  only  of  triumphing  in 
the  personal  combat.  Or,  as  frequently  happens,  even 
if  the  antagonists  are  equally  sincere  in  their  pursuit  of 
truth,  and'pretty  evenly  matched  too  in  intellectual  power, 


80 


PHYSICAL    THEORY 


yet  the  organic  power  of  the  one  fails  much  sooner  than 
that  of  the  other ;  and  the  more  infirm  party,  to  conceal 
his  conscious  exhaustion,  and  to  cover  his  retreat,  be- 
takes himself  to  sophistry  and  evasion. 

In  fact,  it  is  only  on  the  ground  of  mathematical 
science,  where  the  steps  of  every  process  of  reasoning 
may  be  infallibly  recorded,  so  that  the  whole  can  be 
taken  up  and  laid  down,  without  damage,  at  different 
times,  that  the  disadvantages  we  have  specified  may  be 
warded  off. 

Again ;  and  to  come  to  our  sixth  supposed  prerogative 
of  the  spiritual  body ;  the  mental  power,  both  in  its  ex- 
tent and  in  its  kind,  depends  very  much  upon  the  ability 
(possessed  by  one  mind  in  a  far  greater  degree  than  by 
another)  of  carrying  on  several  operations  simultane- 
ously. In  truth  there  are  certain  difficult  complex  spe- 
culations which  can  be  pursued  only  by  the  few  who 
possess  this  peculiar  ability  in  an  eminent  degree ;  and 
here,  as  in  the  last-named  instance,  a  new  construction 
of  the  corporeal-mental  system  may  be  hypothetically 
assumed,  such  as  would  at  once  enhance  immensely  the 
ntellectual  power.  We  need  not  here  stay  to  decide  the 
{preliminary  question,  whether  the  power  of  the  mind  to 
carry  on  several  operations  simultaneously,  is  apparent 
only,  or  is  actual  and  real ;  —  that  is  to  say,  whether,  in 
a  strict  sense,  the  mind  be  capable  of  any  complex  acts, 
or  only  applies  itself,  with  inconceivable  rapidity,  in  turns 
to  different  objects,  so  as  to  seem  to  attend  to  several  at 
once.  This  obscure  question  we  may  leave  in  the  rear, 
and  take  up,  as  quite  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose, 
the  plain  fact,  loosely  stated,  that  the  human  mind  does, 
without  conscious  difficulty,  carry  on  two,  three,  or  more 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE.  81 

operations  within  one  and  the  same  mental  period.  Thus, 
for  example,  there  are  few  who  cannot  with  ease  read 
aloud,  and  read  with  due  care  and  emphasis,  while  a 
train  of  thought,  wholly  unconnected  with  the  subject  of 
the  book,  is  entertained.  Or  a  conversation  may  be  car- 
ried on  with  our  neighbour,  on  the  right  hand,  in  com- 
pany, while  we  attentively  listen  to  that  which  is  passing 
between  those  on  our  left.  Or  a  piece  of  music,  of  dif- 
ficult execution,  is  performed,  and  at  the  same  time 
schemes  are  meditated,  or  powerful  emotions  indulged. 
By  the  means  of  this  faculty  extemporary  speakers  not 
only  deliver  themselves  with  propriety  and  energy,  while 
the  subsequent  portions  of  their  argument  are  being  di- 
gested and  arranged ;  but  note,  and  turn  to  their  advan- 
tage, the  varying  emotions  of  their  auditors,  nor  lose  a 
smile,  a  frown,  or  a  sneer,  that  shows  itself  on  the  sea  of 
faces  before  them. 

Now  this  power,  actually  possessed  and  exercised  by 
man  in  the  present  state,  whether  it  be  precisely  what  it 
seems  or  not,  may  easily  be  conceived  of  as  augmented, 
and  as  enlarged  in  its  compass,  when  the  same  mind 
comes  to  be  lodged  in  a  body  that  has  more  appliancy, 
and  a  higher  finish.  And  yet  this  obvious  and  probable 
enhancement  of  our  power  of  attention  is  not  all  that 
may  reasonably  be  looked  for,  as  likely  to  result  from  a 
more  refined  corporeal  constitution.  Let  it  be  consid- 
ered then  that  the  cerebral  part  of  the  mental  process  is, 
as  we  have  already  said,  like  every  other  voluntary  ope- 
ration, attended  with  a  sense  of  fatigue,  and  that  it  is  fol- 
lowed by  lassitude.  Thinking  therefore,  even  in  the  most 
vigorous  minds,  has  its  limits  and  its  seasons ;  nor  are 
these  limits  to  be  overpassed  without  injury  or  peril  to  the 
brain.  A  single  process,  or  a  process  that  is  homoge- 
8 


82  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

neons  and  simple,  may  however  be  carried  on  more  ea- 
sily, and  longer,  than  a  complex  process,  or  than  one 
that  exercises  different  faculties,  and  involves  heteroge- 
neous subjects.  Indeed  any  high  degree  of  complexity 
soon  brings  on  a  confusion  of  ideas,  and  a  collapse  of  the 
mental  energy.  In  fact,  very  few  minds  voluntarily  un- 
dergo any  such  difficult  labours  ;  and  most  make  their 
choice  of  some  single  object,  and  addict  themselves  there- 
to in  compliance  with  the  natural  bent  of  the  mind,  or 
with  accidental  interests,  and  wisely  turn  to  the  best  ac- 
count the  special  gifts  which  nature  may  have  conferred 
upon  them,  whether  of  reason,  imagination,  or  moral 
sentiment.  The  habit  of  simple  and  single  intellectual 
action  soon  fixes  itself  in  a  definite  form,  and  men  be- 
come mathematicians,  logicians,  experimenters,  poets, 
artists,  moralists,  and  thus  learn  to  entertain  every  ob- 
ject of  thought  in  a  technical  manner.  Hence  result 
those  partial  apprehensions  of  general  truth  which  limit 
the  advancement  of  each  mind  within  narrow  bounds  : 
and  hence  too  comes  that  division  of  labour  in  the  world 
of  mind,  which  although  productive  of  advantage  on  the 
whole,  and  in  relation  to  ordinary  pursuits,  and  to  some 
of  the  secular  sciences,  yet  bars  the  advancement  of  phi- 
losophy in  its  wider  range,  and  is  peculiarly  disadvanta- 
geous in  its  bearing  upon  the  elevated  themes  of  theolo- 
gy, which  because  they  are  in  the  most  absolute  sense 
universal,  are  not  to  be  apprehended  by  any  single  facul- 
ty of  the  mind,  but  stand  in  such  a  manner  related  to 
our  entire  intellectual  and  moral  constitution,  as  that  it 
is  only  when  every  faculty,  in  harmonious  and  simulta- 
neous exercise,  is  actively  engaged  upon  them,  that  they 
can  be  really  embraced.  The  metaphysician,  let  his 
analysis  of  abstract  notions  be  as  exact  as  it  may,  still 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  83 

misapprehends  the  Divine  nature,  inasmuch  as  the  ana- 
lytic habit  of  his  mind,  and  his  peculiar  mental  confor- 
mation, tend  to  exclude  or  to  abate  the  moral  and  the 
conceptive  faculties ;  it  is  therefore  only  one  set  of  re- 
lations which  he  discerns  ;  und  so  the  poet,  and  even  the 
man  of  acute  moral  perception,  alike  misapprehend  the 
Supreme  Excellence.  On  this  high  and  arduous  ground 
we  fail,  not  merely  because  the  infinite  transcends  the 
finite,  but  also  because,  by  inveterate  habit,  we  go  on  to 
divide,  and  to  distribute,  and  classify  that,  the  very  es- 
sence of  which  is,  that  it  is  indivisible  and  ONE. 

But  inasmuch  as  the  human  mind,  even  now,  goes 
some  way  (when  employed  upon  lower  and  more  com- 
mon objects)  in  carrying  on  diverse  operations  simulta- 
neously, it  is  very  credible  that,  in  the  future  spiritual  bo- 
dy, this  power,  depending,  as  it  appears  to  do,  upon  the 
corporeal  structure,  should  be  greatly  extended.  Arid 
this  extension  may  take  place  either  merely  by  a  higher 
degree  of  refinement  in  the  corporeal-mental  mechan- 
ism, such  as  should  allow  more  activity  with  Jess  effort ; 
or  else,  which  is  the  preferable  supposition,  that  the 
mental  process,  so  far  as  dependent  upon  the  body, 
should  be  placed  in  analogy  with  the  involuntary  ani- 
mal functions,  and  so  be  free  to  move  on  without  ex- 
pending the  organic  force.  In  either  case  the  mind, 
feeling  itself  released  from  a  confinement  that  had  hereto- 
fore impeded  its  progress,  would  at  once  bring  the  com- 
plement of  its  faculties  to  bear  upon  whatever  engaged 
it :  — it  would  henceforward  fill  out  its  circle  of  thought 
and  emotion,  instead  of  passing  from  part  to  part,  and 
of  relinquishing  one  while  it  grasps  another.  The  mind 
thus  advantaged,  would  combine  itself  with  every  ele- 


84  PHYSICALTHEORY 

ment  of  knowledge  and  feeling ;  and  while  having  more 
to  do  with  synthesis  than  with  analysis,  (which  at  pre- 
sent, from  the  limitation  of  its  faculty,  it  chiefly  affects) 
it  would,  not  the  less,  discern  in  their  distinctions  what- 
ever really  differs  in  nature.  The  mind  thus  set  at 
large,  would  probably  lay  aside  entirely  its  habit  of  attend- 
ing to  things  by  turns,  or  in  succession,  or  as  if  it  were  tra- 
versing a  line,  and  would,  if  we  might  use  the  figure, 
bring  a  broad  percipient  surface  into  contact  with  broad 
surfaces,  and  would  act  and  feel  at  all  points  at  once. 
It  must  be  in  some  such  manner,  if  ever,  that  the  human 
mind  will  attain  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  high- 
est and  most  momentous  truths  :  — it  is  thus,  if  at  all, 
that  it  will  become  qualified  to  reason  satisfactorily  con- 
cerning the  principles  of  the  divine  government ;  and 
thus,  if  ever,  that  instead  of  building  up  and  pulling 
down,  with  a  fruitless  iteration,  its  systems  of  theology, 
because  something  essential  is  always  found  to  have 
been  omitted,  that  it  shall  build,  and  bind  what  it  builds» 
and  so  make  some  real  progress  in  knowing  the  Infinite 
Perfection. 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  85 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE   SEVENTH   PROBABLE  ADVANTAGE   OP   THE   FUTURE 
LIFE. 

THERE  is  yet  a  mental  advantage,  highly  desirable  in 
itself,  although  but  moderately  enjoyed  at  present  by  the 
human  mind  ;  and  it  is  one  which  may  reasonably  be  an- 
ticipated as  likely  to  accrue  from  a  more  entire  subser- 
viency of  the  corporeal  economy  to  the  intellect.  What 
we  mean  is,  an  intuitive  perception  of  abstract  truths, 
even  of  a  complicated  kind;  and  whether  they  be  mathe- 
matical or  metaphysical. 

There  is,  we  grant,  an  intense  gratification,  and  a  cre- 
dit too,  resulting  from  the  successful,  though  laborious 
prosecution  of  abstruse  principles,  through  circuitous  and 
intricate  paths ;  and  if  we  were  to  adduce,  as  a  signal 
example,  the  process  of  reasoning  which  has  brought 
our  modern  astronomy  to  its  present  state,  and  if  we 
think  of  the  steady  resolution,  as  well  as  grasp  of  mind, 
and  the  intrepidity  which  have  been  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  subject,  a  just  exultation  on  account  of  the 
powers  of  the  human  understanding  may  be  felt ;  and 
we  might  be  almost  ready  to  decline  any  imagined  ad- 
vantage, such  as  should  supersede  these  arduous  and 
elevating  labours.  Nevertheless,  it  must  be  confessed 
that  inasmuch  as  it  is  truth,  and  nothing  else,  which  is 
the  ultimate  object  of  philosophic  reasoning,  and,  as  it  is 
the  result  rather  than  the  process  for  the  sake  of  which 
8* 


86  PHYSICALTHEORY 

so  much  labour  is  undergone,  a  direct  or  immediate  mode 
of  attaining  any  truth,  cannot  be  otherwise  than  prefer- 
able to  a  circuitous  one.  The  illustrious  men  who  have 
earned  immortal  fame  on  the  field  of  modern  science, 
would  unquestionably,  any  of  them,  have  gladly  foregone 
their  individual  reputation  in  exchange  for  a  natural  fa- 
culty of  discerning,  instantaneously,  the  entire  chain  of 
relations  which,  in  fact,  it  cost  them  the  labour  of  their 
lives  to  demonstrate.  The  traveller  prides  himself  upon 
his  achievement  who,  at  the  jeopardy  of  his  life,  and  with 
incredible  efforts,  has  climbed  a  peak  of  the  Andes :  but 
would  not  that  same  adventurer  relinquish  the  credit  he 
has  so  won,  if,  instead  of  it,  he  might  take  the  wings  of 
the  eagle,  and  hover  at  liberty  and  leisure  above  the 
snowy  summits? 

In  a  mathematical  or  a  metaphysical  proposition  it  is 
affirmed,  that  two  or  more  quantities,  or  beings,  or  con- 
ditions of  being,  though  dissimilar  in  form,  or  expression, 
are  equal,  or  are  identical ;  or  that  they  bear  such  and 
such  a  relation,  the  one  to  the  other.  The  subsequent 
process  of  reasoning,  which  establishes  or  exhibits  this 
affirmed  equality,  or  this  identity,  consists  in  nothing  but 
in  tracing  and  naming,  one  by  one,  all  those  intermediate 
relations,  each  of  which  is  so  simple  or  obvious  that  it 
may  instantly  be  perceived,  and  will  certainly  be  assent- 
ed to.  But  there  is  always  room  for  some  considerable 
diversity  of  method  in  presenting  such  demonstrations  ; 
and  this  diversity  has  respect  to  the  acquirements,  the 
intellectual  habits,  and  the  native  powers  of  the  minds 
to  which  they  are  to  be  addressed ;  for  while  in  dealing 
with  one  mind,  it  may  be  necessary  to  insist,  slowly  and 
patiently,  upon  every  intermediate  step,  and  to  express 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  87 

in  form  the  very  simplest  relations,  with  other  minds  any 
such  minuteness  would  be  both  superfluous  and  repul- 
sive, inasmuch  as  these  more  accomplished  minds  are 
well  able  to  take  in  at  a  glance  a  wide  range  of  related 
truths,  and  are  accustomed,  with  safety  and  assurance, 
to  advance  by  leaps  or  great  strides,  where  the  less  ex- 
pert must  grope  their  way.  It  actually  belongs  then  to 
the  human  mind  to  discern  intricate  and  remote  rela- 
tions: yet  this  can  be  done,  even  by  the  strongest  minds, 
only  within  certain  limits. 

There  are,  moreover,  very  many  abstract  relations, 
such  that,  with  our  present  faculties  we  fail  to  trace  them 
at  all,  in  a  direct  manner ;  and  they  become  known  to  us 
only  by  an  inference,  drawn  from  the  absurdity  of  admit- 
ting any  contrary  supposition.  In  fact  a  considerable 
portion  of  our  abstract  sciences  stands  under  this  con- 
dition, and  is  assented  to,  rather  because  the  denial  of  it 
involves  some  impossibility,  than  because  the  truth  itself 
can  be  brought  to  stand  out  in  our  view.  The  reductio 
ad  absurdum,  how  useful  soever  it  may  be,  and  indeed 
necessary  with  our  present  limitted  faculties,  is  a  method 
of  reasoning  that  would  never  be  resorted  to  by  minds 
enjoying  a  wider  range  of  thought ;  and  the  use  of  it  may 
be  taken  as  a  sure  indication  of  the  confinement  and  im- 
perfection of  our  intellectual  faculties. 

Those  who,  either  from  an  original  perspicacity,  or  as 
the  fruit  of  an  acquired  facility,  are  able  to  grasp  com- 
plicated abstract  relations,  may  be  supposed  to  do  so  by 
the  means  of  an  unconscious  rapidity  in  running  through 
all  the  intermediate  relations  ;  or  perhaps,  and  this  seems 
the  more  probable  supposition,  it  is  by  a  peculiar  power 
of  discerning,  at  once,  what  may  be  called  the  entire  na- 
ture of  the  subject,  with  all  its  relations,  so  that  the  par- 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 

ticular  truth  affirmed  in  any  one  proposition  concerning 
that  nature,  stands  out  clearly  as  a  necessary  part  of  the 
whole,  or  as  plainly  involved  in  some  more  comprehen- 
sive proposition.  Now  this  ability,  whether  it  consist  in 
the  power  to  pass  in  an  instant  along  a  chain  of  truths, 
or  in  the  faculty  of  grasping  truth  in  its  universal  and 
most  abstract  forms,  does  in  fact  belong  to  some,  if  not 
to  all  human  minds ;  and  when  we  come  to  ask  what  it 
is  which  prevents  inferior  intellects  from  exercising  this 
power  in  any  sensible  degree,  and  what  it  is  which  puts 
a  limit  to  the  power,  even  in  the  most  highly  gifted 
minds,  we  shall  be  led  to  believe  that  the  limitation 
arises  from  the  condition  of  the  cerebral  structure,  or 
from  its  pathological  state,  and  that  it  consists  in  some 
organic  confinement,  or  stricture,  or  sluggishness  of  the 
brain.  That  the  cause  of  this  difference  between  one 
mind  and  another  is  corporeal,  may  reasonably  be  in- 
ferred from  the  fact,  that  those  variations  of  power  of 
which  every  one  is  conscious  in  himself,  spring  from  the 
state  of  the  brain,  as  when,  from  circumstances  unques- 
tionably of  a  physical  kind,  such  as  the  condition  of  the 
general  health,  or  the  state  of  the  atmosphere,  or  the  in- 
fluence of  stimulants,  or  the  condition  of  the  stomach, 
the  ability  to  grasp  abstract  truths,  is  very  greatly  en- 
larged, or  is  as  much  contracted.  No  one  mind,  it  is 
true,  can  be  made  conscious  of  the  individual  facilities, 
or  of  the  difficulties  that  attach  to  another ;  nevertheless 
each  may  scrutinize  the  variations  that  affect  itself,  and 
may,  with  some  degree  of  distinctness  and  certainty, 
trace  the  operation  of  whatever  affects  the  body,  in  de- 
pressing or  elevating  the  intellectual  vigour.  Thus 
analysing  our  personal  consciousness,  and  taking  our 
happiest  moments  as  a  gauge  of  the  original  power  of 


OF    ANOTHER     LIFE. 

the  mind,  (for  no  man  ever  outstretches  his  actual  powers) 
we  may  feel  a  strong  persuasion  that  what  is  needed  is 
only  to  be  still  a  little  more  disengaged  from  organic  im- 
perfections and  impediments,  in  order  to  our  being  able 
to  seize,  as  by  intuition,  the  most  remote  and  intricate 
abstract  truths.  The  conjecture  then  is  hazarded,  and 
its  reasonableness  is  referred  to  those  who  are  addicted 
to  the  pursuit  of  abstract  science,  that  a  corporeal-men- 
tal constitution,  either  more  refined  than  the  present  ani- 
mal organization,  or  entirely  disengaged  from  the  organic 
mechanism  of  vessels  circulating  fluids,  and  secretions, 
would  admit  with  ease  of  the  intuition  of  principles,  now 
ascertained  by  laborious  calculations,  or  by  difficult  and 
indirect  processes  of  reasoning. 

It  seems  safe  to  affirm,  in  relation  to  what  may  be 
abstractedly  possible  to  the  human  mind,  that,  whatever 
it  has  at  any  time  actually  achieved,  under  extraordina- 
rily favourable  circumstances,  or  whatever  effort  it  may, 
for  a  few  moments  only,  have  sustained,  the  same  (to 
say  no  more)  it  might  at  all  times  perform,  and  might 
continue  to  perform,  if  it  were  but  exempted  from  those 
causes  of  embarrassment  and  exhaustion  which  are  felt 
to  arise  from  the  imperfections  of  the  animal  organiza- 
tion. If  indeed  we  are  calculating,  in  any  instance,  what 
it  may  fairly  be  expected  that  men,  as  they  are,  will 
achieve,  we  must  reckon  only  upon  the  average  amount 
of  their  powers  —  bodily  or  mental.  But  if  the  question 
be  —  What  might  the  human  mind  achieve,  set  free  from 
the  infirmities  and  disparagements  that  attach  to  individu- 
als, then  it  is  not  the  actual  average  that  is  to  be  regard- 
ed ;  but  the  actual  maximum ;  and  the  rarest  and  most 
admirable  performances  of  the  favoured  few,  who  have 


90  PHYSICAL      THEORY 

far  outdone  their  competitors,  are  to  be  assumed  as  the 
measure  of  the  abstract  powers  of  the  human  intellect. 
And  even  this  measure  ought  to  be  regarded  as  probably 
too  low,  inasmuch  as  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
most  vigorous  and  the  clearest  human  mind  still  labours 
under  some  considerable  disadvantages  of  a  corporeal 
kind,  and  would  be  capable  of  far  more,  were  it  wholly 
exempted  from  all  the  obstructions  and  obscurities  that 
attach  to  the  animal  brain. 

Now  there  are  well  authenticated  instances  (and  that 
of  Newton,  often  mentioned,  is  enough  for  our  argument) 
of  the  possession,  to  a  great  extent,  of  the  power  we  are 
speaking  of,  namely,  the  ability  to  discern,  at  once,  and 
without  proof,  the  remote  relations  of  number  and  figure. 
Something  of  this  sort  comes  within  the  reach  of  most 
minds,  addicted,  by  original  taste,  to  mathematical 
science.  Such,  on  frequent  occasions,  step  forward 
beyond  the  formal  process  instituted  to  exclude  any 
affirmation  contrary  to  the  one  set  forth  in  the  theorem  ; 
and  in  a  moment  perceive  that  this  theorem  is  only  a 
special  statement  of  some  more  universal  truth,  which 
truth  is  intuitively  known. 

What  then  would  be  the  consequences,  and  what  the 
practical  value  of  such  an  emancipation  of  the  intellect 
from  the  trammels  of  calculation  and  the  subtilties  of 
logic  ?  With  a  view  to  finding  a  reply  to  this  question, 
it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  reasoning  faculty  is  in  it- 
self nothing  more  than  an  instrument  —  a  means  to  an 
end — a  power,  subordinate  to  higher  purposes  :  it  is  for 
the  truth's  sake,  and  nothing  else  (if  the  mind  be  in- 
genuous) that  we  reason  or  calculate.  The  necessity 
we  find  ourselves  under,  at  any  time,  of  putting  this  en- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  91 

gine  in  operation,  and  of  keeping  it  in  play  through  the 
course  of  a  long  and  difficult  process,  cannot  in  itself, 
be  deemed  a  perfection.  It  is  indeed  well  that  we 
possess  such  a  power,  and  that  we  are  able  at  any  cost, 
to  ascertain  remote  and  abstruse  truths ;  but  surely,  no 
one  would  refuse  to  accept  the  same  results,  obtained  in 
a  readier  manner.  We  do  not  construct  steam  engines 
for  the  sake  of  working  them ;  but  for  producing  the 
accommodations  of  life  ;  nor  would  a  furnace  be  kindled 
were  we  permitted  to  wield  the  magician's  wand,  and  at 
will  to  surround  ourselves  with  every  luxury. 

As  it  is,  we  have  time,  in  the  present  life,  to  do  little 
more,  in  relation  to  abstract  truths,  than  just  to  find  them 
out ;  or  at  most,  to  apply  them  to  some  few  practical 
purposes.  But  let  it  be  assumed  that,  in  another  stage 
of  our  existence,  we  shall  be  freed  from  the  operose 
methods  of  calculation  and  reasoning,  and  be  endowed 
with  the  power  of  intuitively  perceiving  all  the  properties 
and  conditions,  as  well  of  mathematical  as  of  metaphy  - 
sical  entities  :  —  the  mind,  not  made  indolent  by  this 
advantage,  would  start  forward,  as  from  an  advanced 
position,  and  move  on  with  rapidity  toward  new  and 
higher  ground.  Master  of  all  actual  and  possible  rela- 
tions, affecting  space,  time,  matter,  number,  and  abstract 
being  ;  —  relations  it  could  not  consent  to  leave  unknown 
in  the  rear,  the  mind  would  proceed  to  inquire  concerning 
the  perfections  of  the  Infinite  Nature,  toward  which 
(there  is  no  doubt)  all  virtuous  intelligences  must  be 
tending  with  an  irresistible  impulse  when  once  it  is 
directly  opened  to  their  meditations.  In  the  present 
world  we  pursue  the  inferior  order  of  abstract  truths,  be- 
cause these  comprise  the  only  species  of  absolute  per- 
fection that  comes  within  our  range  ;  but  when  a  still 


92  PHYSIC  A  L     THEORY 

higher,  and  a  vastly  higher  and  more  excellent  species  of 
truth  —  truth  combining  all  intrinsic  attractions,  and  all 
practical  inferences,  shall  invite  our  inquiry,  then  must  it 
take  the  supremacy  that  belongs  to  it ;  and  we  shall  feel 
the  advantage  of  being  able  to  dismiss,  as  familiarly  un- 
derstood or  discerned,  all  inferior  principles. 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  93 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

THE    EIGHTH    PREROGATIVE,    ACCORDING    TO    OUR    HY-. 
POTHESIS,  OF  SPIRITUAL  CORPOREITY. 

A  SOCIAL  economy,  with  all  its  happy  and  its  moment- 
ous consequences,  and  apart  from  which  scarcely  a  half 
of  human  nature  could  be  brought  into  action  —  a  social 
economy  demands  at  once  a  power  of  individual  privacy, 
and  a  faculty  of  communication.  The  corporeal  lodge- 
ment of  the  mind,  fencing  it  from  intrusion,  provides,  as 
we  have  assumed,  for  the  first  of  these  purposes  ;  and  in 
doing  so,  that  is  to  say,  in  preventing  what  might  be 
called,  the  immediate  contact  of  minds,  or  their  free  in- 
termixture, reduces  them  to  the  necessity  (at  least  in  the 
present  state)  of  employing  some  system  of  external 
notices  of  thought ;  or,  as  they  are  termed,  signs,  whether 
representative  and  real,  or  arbitrary,  as  language. 

Nor  is  language  important  to  us  merely  in  our  social 
relations  ;  for  although  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  a 
mind  absolutely  insulated  would,  in  its  solitude,  have 
originated  language,  or  could  have  distinctly  felt  the 
want  of  a  means  of  expression,  nevertheless,  as  language 
has  actually  become  a  part  of  our  intellectual  constitu- 
tion, the  use  of  it  exerts  an  influence  over  the  whole  of 
our  mental  operations ;  and  while  it  facilitates  them,  in 
one  sense,  does  also  in  another,  impede  and  limit  the 
9 


94  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

play  of  our  faculties  ;  and  especially  of  the  highest  of 
those  faculties.  The  constant  presence  of  words  in  the 
mind  slackens  its  curiosity,  by  leading  it  to  believe  that 
it  knows  what  in  fact  it  does  not  know ;  and  it  renders 
also  its  perception  of  all  abstract  truths  obtuse  and  con- 
fused, in  so  far  as  the  rude  symbol  of  each  idea  is  taken 
in  the  stead  of  the  idea  itself,  and  carries  with  it  its  con- 
cretions —  its  excess,  and  its  defect,  and  its  accidental 
associations.  The  substitution  therefore  of  some  new 
and  more  direct,  or  real  means  of  communication  be- 
tween mind  and  mind,  would  not  merely  place  the  social 
economy  on  a  more  sure,  elevated,  and  happy  ground ; 
but  would,  by  its  indirect  consequences,  involve  very 
important  advantages  to  the  mind  in  its  own  operations. 
Every  thing  would  come  before  us  as  fresij,  and  real,  and 
substantial,  if  our  imperfect  and  artificial  symbols  were 
displaced  by  a  means  of  expression  essentially  true  and 
perfect. 

Language  belongs,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the  ear,  and 
is  afterwards,  by  a  transfer  of  associations,  conveyed  to 
the  eye.  Nevertheless,  when  once  the  written  and  visi- 
ble system  of  symbols  has  become  as  familiar  to  the 
mind  as  the  audible  symbols  are,  the  one  connects  itself 
with  the  associated  ideas  quite  as  rapidly  and  as  directly 
as  do  the  others  ;  nor  do  we,  in  reading,  attain  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words  circuitously,  by  first  thinking  of  the 
sound  for  which  they  stand,  and  then  of  the  meaning  of 
that  sound.  The  two  species  of  symbols,  therefore,  the 
visible  and  the  audible,  are  to  be  regarded  as  on  a  level 
when  presented  to  the  mind,  though  not  entirely  so  when 
language  is  mentally  employed,  as  a  vehicle  or  medium 
of  cogitation,  for  when  so  used,  it  is  the  sound,  rather 
than  the  written  sign,  that  is  thought  of.  On  account 


OF      ANOTHER     LIFE.  95 

of  this  difference  we  must  at  present  be  understood  to 
speak  of  language  oral  and  audible. 

Language,  consisting  as  it  does  of  arbitrary  signs,  is 
manifestly  a  rudiment  of  the  material  system  ;  it  is  a  fruit 
and  a  consequence  of  our  corporeity,  and  might,  with 
some  propriety,  be  designated  as  the  point  of  contact, 
where  mind  and  matter  artificially,  yet  most  intimately 
blend,  and  reciprocate  their  respective  properties ;  the 
first  —  namely  mind,  imparting  to  the  modulations  of 
sound  several  hundred  thousand  distinctions,  which  no- 
thing less  than  the  boundless  refinements  of  its  own  con- 
ceptions, could,  to  such  an  extent,  multiply  and  fix: 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  second,  namely  matter, 
imposes  upon  the  first  its  own  limitations,  and  generates 
innumerable  errors,  consequent  upon  its  essential  rude- 
ness, and  its  inferiority,  or  imparity,  as  related  to  the 
mind. 

Every  machine  and  every  instrument  is  an  adaptation 
of  some  existing  power,  or  principle,  conferring  upon 
the  intelligence  that  has  devised,  and  that  employs  it,  a 
special  advantage,  in  carrying  on  some  operation  which 
otherwise  would  be  barely  practicable,  or  not  at  all  so. 
But  whether  or  not  the  particular  work  so  performed 
could  be  achieved  without  the  instrument ;  still  the  mind 
which  invents  and  employs  it,  is  always  immeasurably 
superior  to  its  instrument;  and  whatever  refinement  of 
workmanship,  or  intricacy  of  construction  may  belong  to 
the  latter,  both  are  less  than  the  skill  and  intelligence 
whence  they  proceed  ;  and  less  too  than  the  bodily  pow- 
ers to  which  they  render  aid.  What  is  the  staff  or  the 
hammer  to  the  hand  and  arm  that  wield  them  1  what  the 


96  PHYSICAL-THEORY 

lens  or  telescope  to  the  eye  ?  —  or  again,  to  the  mind 
that  reasons  on  the  facts  they  disclose?  or  what  the 
sculptor's  chisel  to  the  taste  and  skill  that  direct  it  ?  — 
or  what  the  lyre  and  its  chords  to  the  soul  of  melody  that 
trembles  on  the  ringers  of  the  performer  ?  Now  of  all 
the  instruments  or  the  artificial  combinations  which  man 
employs,  there  is  not  one  at  all  to  be  compared  with  lan- 
guage ;  —  there  is  not  one  nearly  so  elaborate  in  its  con- 
struction, or  so  copious  in  its  materials,  or  so  nice  and 
appliant  in  its  evolutions. 

The  vocabulary  of  a  highly  civilized  people,  as  that  of 
the  Greeks,  Romans,  Italians,  Germans,  English,  in- 
cluding the  inflexions  employed  in  its  combinations,  and 
including  also  technical  terms,  and  proper  names,  must, 
at  an  average,  be  estimated  as  comprising  two  hundred 
thousand  distinguishable  arbitrary  signs ;  and  a  large 
proportion  of  these  are  susceptible,  in  construction,  of 
very  many  variations  of  meaning,  so  as  in  fact  nearly  to 
double  the  number  of  sounds  to  which  distinct  ideas  are 
attached.  And  yet  this  vast  apparatus,  taken  in  its  most 
refined  form,  is  found,  in  relation  to  the  occasions  of  the 
mind,  to  be  scanty,  rude,  impliable,  inexact,  and  poor : 
—  it  is  nothing  better  than  a  material  machinery  ;  but 
matter  falls  vastly  short  of  being  commensurable  with 
mind.  Whether  regarded  as  the  instrument  of  silent 
and  solitary  thought,  or  as  the  medium  of  communica- 
tion between  mind  and  mind,  language  proves  itself  so 
inadequate  to  some  of  the  purposes  to  which  it  is  applied, 
as  to  forbid  the  hope  that  those  sciences  will  ever  reach 
a  permanent  and  indisputable  state,  which  depend  upon 
it  as  their  only  means  of  expression.  Mathematical 
truth,  happily,  has  formed  for  itself  a  language  adequate 
to  its  purposes  ;  a  language  real,  and  liable  to  no  ambi- 


OP    ANOTHER    LIFE.  97 

guity  or  variation;  but  then  this  is  because  mathemati- 
cal science  is  conversant  with  the  properties  of  matter, 
and  its  relations ;  and  therefore  the  instrument  of  its 
conveyance,  being  homogeneous,  is  sufficient.  But 
how  far  otherwise  is  it  when  we  have  to  do,  either  with 
metaphysical  abstractions,  or  with  the  heights,  and  depths, 
and  refinements  of  the  human  passions  and  affections ! 
On  this  ground  how  does  it  want  compass,  certitude, 
nicety,  power!  Language  well  and  truly  conveys  all 
those  notions  that  are  its  own  creatures,  or  that  are  more 
modified  by  it,  than  they  modify  the  medium  of  their  ex- 
pression. After  having  vulgarized  and  enfeebled  our 
conceptions  and  our  sentiments,  language  then  suffi- 
ciently represents  and  recombines  what  it  has  first  re- 
duced to  its  own  level.  Meanwhile  every  profoundly 
empassioned  and  sensitive  mind,  and  every  mind  accus- 
tomed to  hold  language  in  abeyance,  during  its  processes 
of  analysis  and  abstraction,  is  vividly,  and  even  pain- 
fully conscious  of  the  inferiority  of  any  actual  medium 
of  expression  that  is  at  its  command.  In  the  recesses 
of  the  human  soul  there  is  a  world  of  thought  which,  for 
the  want  of  determinate  and  fit  symbols,  never  assumes 
any  fixed  form,  such  as  might  beneficially  constitute  a 
part  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  wealth,  or  augment  the 
wisdom  and  virtue  of  the  man. 

Or  if  we  needed  another  sort  of  illustration  of  the 
vast  superiority  of  the  mind,  as  measured  against  its  in- 
strument of  expression,  we  might  refer  to  the  facility 
with  which  three,  five,  or  even  ten  or  twelve  different 
sets  of  symbols  are  held  in  readiness,  and  used,  almost 
indifferently,  for  the  conveyance  of  thought.  What  a 
proof  is  this  of  the  grasp,  and  of  the  elasticity,  and  of  the 
9* 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 

master  power  of  mind,  that  it  can,  with  a  sovereign  ease, 
and  just  as  a  man  lays  down  one  tool,  and  takes  up  an- 
other, so  lay  down  and  take  up  at  pleasure  this  or  that  vo- 
luminous machinery  of  signs  !  Let  it  be  supposed  that 
each  language  of  five,  familiarly  commanded  by  any  one, 
comprises  not  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  words 
(including  inflections)  then  does  the  mind  hold  each  of 
these  sets  of  signs,  with  all  the  special  rules  that  affect 
the  construction  of  each,  unconfounded  and  distinct,  so 
as  in  a  moment  to  be  able  to  detach  its  passing  train  of 
ideas  from  one  of  these  systems  of  signs,  and  to  affix  it 
to  another  !  Now  this  wonderful  facility  in  so  playing 
with  these  operose  and  cumbrous  engines,  and  in  so 
shifting  instantaneously  the  entire  system  of  intimate 
mental  associations,  is  by  no  means  to  be  considered 
barely  as  a  proof  of  great  ability  in  the  individual,  or  of 
the  reach  of  the  memory,  but  rather  as  a  tacit,  yet  sure 
indication  of  the  immeasurable  (not  indeed  infinite)  in- 
herent power  of  the  human  mind,  to  which  such  opera- 
tions may  become  so  familiar  as  to  be  performed  almost 
without  the  consciousness  of  any  effort.  Of  what  then 
might  this  same  mind  be  capable,  if  furnished  with  an 
engine  of  expression  homogeneous  with  itself,  plastic  in 
quality,  and  commensurate  with  its  faculties! 

Now  there  are  two  suppositions,  either  of  which  may, 
with  some  reason,  be  entertained  relative  to  the  means  of 
communication  in  a  higher  economy ;  the  first  of  which 
is,  that  in  the  stead  of  a  system  of  signs  adapted,  as  all 
our  signs  are  primarily,  to  sensible  objects,  and  derived 
from  the  material  world,  and  transferred  by  figure  to 
things  abstract  and  intellectual,  there  should  be  con- 
structed a  system  primarily  adapted  to  things  abstract 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE. 

and  intellectual,  and  drawn  from  the  world  of  mind,  and 
therefore  strictly  proper  to  notions  of  this  class,  and  nei- 
ther more,  nor  fewer,  nor  other,  than  those  notions  are ; 
nor  in  any  such  way  convertible  as  to  give  rise  to  am- 
biguities of  expression,  and  confusions  of  thought.  Such 
a  medium  of  communion,  it  is  manifest,  being  the  mind's 
own  creature,  and  its  commensurate  power,  would,  in  all 
its  applications,  both  as  an  engine  of  cogitation  and  as  a 
means  of  communication,  transcend  the  most  perfect  of 
our  mundane  languages,  as  far  as  any  one  of  our  lan- 
guages transcends  the  mute  signs  and  awkward  grima- 
ces resorted  to  by  men  not  understanding  each  other's 
tongue.  With  a  language  of  this  real  kind  at  command, 
and  which  would  be  a  true  reflection  of  itself,  —  a  just 
and  clear  image  of  thought  and  emotion,  —  the  mind 
would  feel  as  if  the  broad  light  of  day  pervaded  its  in- 
most recesses,  or  as  if  its  very  self  were  repeated  in  every 
expression  ;  the  likeness  of  the  mind  and  soul  would  be 
such  as  is  returned  of  the  person  by  the  most  highly  pol- 
ished mirror ;  or  to  adduce  the  most  complete  illustra- 
tion of  the  advantages  of  a  real  intellectual  language, 
such  as  we  have  imagined,  we  must  again  refer  to  the  in- 
stance of  the  language  of  mathematical  science,  which, 
because  homogeneous  with  the  truths  it  conveys,  is  fault- 
less, infallible,  and  liable  to  no  mutations  in  the  lapse  of 
ages  :  it  is  exempt  from  the  caprices  of  fashion,  and  su- 
perior to  the  individual  errors  and  infirmities  of  those 
through  whose  hands  it  is  transmitted.  Now  a  language 
formed  by  the  mind  for  itself,  and  after  it  has  become 
fully  furnished  with  abstract  ideas,  and  after  the  purely 
intellectual  part  of  its  circle  of  notions  has  gained  a  due 
prevalence  over  sensible  images,  such  a  language,  con- 
sisting of  symbols  of  abstractions,  not  of  the  symbols  of 


100  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

the  symbols  of  those  abstractions,  would  be  to  the  mind, 
and  to  its  operations,  what  the  language  of  geometry, 
and  algebra,  and  of  the  modern  calculus,  is  to  the  truths 
thereby  conveyed.  And  the  consequence  of  employing 
this  homogeneous  and  perfect  medium  would  be  the  su- 
perseding of  all  fluctuating  systems  of  metaphysics,  and 
theology,  and  morals,  the  exclusion  of  endless  and  fruit- 
less altercations  on  such  subjects,  and  the  gradual  ac- 
cumulation and  consolidation  of  an  ABSOLUTE  PHILOSO- 
PHY —  metaphysical,  theological,  and  moral. 

Our  modern  philosophy,  in  all  branches,  has  now  been 
about  twenty-five  centuries  in  growth ;  and  during  the 
last  five  of  these  centuries,  a  solid  and  permanent  ad- 
vancement has  been  made  in  all  those  sciences  which 
command  a  medium  of  expression  adapted  to  their  na- 
ture, and  exempt  from  ambiguities  and  fluctuations.  But 
meanwhile  abstract  intellectual  philosophy  (putting  out 
of  the  question  the  general  rectification  of  sentiments  and 
notions  accruing  from  the  influence  of  Christianity)  re- 
mains what  and  where  it  was,  in  the  bright  times  of  Gre- 
cian intelligence.  The  preliminary  work  of  fixing  the 
sense  of  terms,  and  of  advancing  axioms,  has  still  to  be 
done  anew  by  every  professor  of  these  studies  ;  and  his 
labour  is  scarcely  completed  before  it  is  broken  up  and 
cast  aside  by  his  successors.  This  incertitude  appears 
to  admit  of  no  remedy. 

The  second  supposition  that  offers  itself  in  relation  to 
the  communion  of  minds,  is  this,  namely,  that  the  me- 
thod of  expression  by  arbitrary  signs  should  be  altogether 
superseded,  and  that  in  the  place  of  it  the  mind  should 
be  endowed  with  a  power  of  communication,  by  a  direct 
and  plenary  conveyance  of  its  own  state,  at  any  moment, 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE.  101 

to  other  minds ;  as  if  the  veil  of  personal  consciousness 
might,  at  pleasure,  be  drawn  aside,  and  the  entire  intel- 
lectual being  could  spread  itself  out  to  view.  "  If  there 
are  tongues, "  says  the  apostle,  "  they  shall  fail ; "  and 
it  may  be  intended,  not  merely  that  the  various  languages 
of  earth  shall  be  exchanged  for  the  one  language  of  hea- 
ven, but  rather  that  language  itself,  or  the  use  of  arbitrary 
symbols,  shall  give  place  to  the  conveyance  of  thought, 
in  its  native  state,  from  mind  to  mind.  The  conveyance 
of  emotions,  by  the  varying  expression  of  the  counte- 
nance, and  which  is  understood  as  if  instinctively  by  in- 
fants and  by  animals,  gives  us  a  faint  indication  at  least 
of  a  mode  of  communication  much  more  intuitive  and 
immediate,  than  that  of  language  :  nor  is  it  very  difficult, 
by  the  aid  of  this  instance,  to  carry  forward  our  con- 
ceptions so  far  as  to  grasp  what  we  are  now  suppos- 
ing, namely,  an  instantaneous  and  real  unfolding  of  the 
thought  and  feeling  of  one  mind,  by  an  act  of  its  own, 
to  other  minds.  We  say  by  an  act  of  its  own,  for  the 
purposes  of  a  moral  economy,  and  the  preservation  of 
the  individuality  of  character,  seem  necessarily  to  de- 
mand the  seclusion  of  each  mind,  except  so  far  as  it 
may  spontaneously  discover  itself.  This  seclusion  and 
individuality  appears  also  to  be  involved,  as  we  have  al- 
ready remarked,  in  corporeity. 

Of  the  same  kind  with  the  expression  of  feeling  by  the 
countenance,  is  the  conveyance  of  the  fine  distinctions 
of  thought  and  emotion  by  the  means  of  the  modulations 
of  the  voice,  which  in  fact  amount  to  a  second  power,  su- 
peradded  to  the  mere  conventional  value  of  language. 
What  is  conveyed  by  emphasis,  and  still  more  by  tones, 
often  far  surpasses  what  is  contained,  or  could  be  con- 


102  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

tained,  in  the  words  as  written.  This  language  of  tones 
is  a  real  language,  suffused,  if  we  may  so  speak,  through 
the  mass  of  arbitrary  signs,  and  serving  to  give  them  a 
double  force  ;  it  is  a  vital  energy,  informing  an  inert  body. 
Those  who  have  had  much  to  do  with  children,  must 
have  observed  that  they  slowly  acquire  their  knowledge 
of  arbitrary  terms,  and  especially  of  abstract  phrases,  in 
a  great  degree,  by  the  aid  of  their  instinctive  apprehen- 
sion of  the  meaning  of  tones,  and  of  the  expressions  of 
the  countenance.  It  seems  as  if  this  real  language  were 
implanted  in  all  minds,  and  being  understood  without 
teaching  and  without  induction,  is  made  the  means  of 
acquiring  that  which  can  be  known  only  by  instruction 
and  habit.  In  this  fact  have  we  not  an  indication  of  a 
future  means  of  communion,  more  real,  and  immediate, 
and  instinctive,  than  that  of  arbitrary  symbols  1  The  in- 
tellectual power  of  music  furnishes  another,  and  an  anal- 
ogous instance  of  the  conveyance  of  emotions,  with  dis- 
tinctness and  force,  by  means  more  natural  than  that 
of  conventional  signs.  Melody  and  harmony  have  a 
fixed  affinity  with  the  several  emotions  of  our  moral  con- 
stitution ;  and  they  awaken,  with  unvarying  uncertainty 
and  precision,  this  or  that  sentiment  or  passion.  In  this 
instance  we  have  an  example  of  the  corporeal  convey- 
ance of  the  states  of  one  mind  to  other  minds,  founded 
upon  the  original  conformation  of  mind,  as  combined 
with  matter.  And  this  mode  of  communion  may  easily 
be  conceived  of  as  much  extended  and  improved. 

Whether  we  prefer  the  first  or  the  second  of  the  above 
named  suppositions,  the  consequences  must  be  nearly 
the  same;  for  an  arbitrary  language,  if  absolutely  perfect, 
and  framed  from  intellectual,  not  from  material  types, 
would  perhaps  fall  very  little  short  in  accuracy  or  power, 


OF    ANOTHER     LIFE.  103 

of  an  immediate  revelation  of  the  inmost  mind,  as  a  mode 
of  intercourse ;  and  in  either  case,  the  interchange  of 
knowledge  and  feeling  would  be  incalculably  promoted, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  mind,  in  its  solitary  operations, 
would  be  freed  from  the  thousand  illusions  that  take  their 
rise  from  the  ambiguous  and  impliable  languages  of  the 
present  state. 

There  is,  however,  a  point  of  difference  between  the 
two  suppositions  which  deserves  to  be  noticed,  and  it  is 
this  ;  that  whereas  the  use  of  language,  let  it  be  as  per- 
fect as  it  may,  makes  it  necessary  for  the  mind  to  tread 
always  upon  a  single  line  of  thought,  at  a  time,  and  to 
divert  from  that  line  as  often  as  it  would  give  utterance 
to  feelings  or  ideas  of  another  species  —  on  the  con- 
trary, if  the  mind  were  able  to  unveil  itself  independently 
of  any  medium  of  expression,  and  if,  as  we  have  before 
supposed,  a  more  refined  corporeal  structure  should  en- 
able it  to  pursue  simultaneously,  several  distinct  classes 
of  ideas,  then  would  the  intercourse  of  minds  fill  a  vastly 
wider  circle  than  otherwise  it  could ;  and  in  fact  those 
complex  truths,  and  those  mixed  impressions,  might  be 
conveyed  which,  on  the  very  account  of  their  complexity, 
are  not  at  all  to  be  communicated  in  their  real  nature  or 
their  full  force,  so  long  as  it  is  necessary  to  sunder  them, 
and  to  dole  them  out  piece-meal.  It  is  easy  to  under- 
stand how  happily  this  advantage  must  bear  upon  the 
advancement  of  the  junior  members  of  a  vast  social 
economy,  in  their  intercourse  with  those  who  have  long 
ago  scaled  the  heights  of  divine  philosophy ;  for  although 
the  infant  capacity  of  the  learners  (as  well  as  other  rea- 
sons) might  put  limits  to  the  communication  of  know- 
ledge, yet  whatever  it  was  judged  expedient  to  convey, 


104  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

might  be  conveyed  in  its  genuine  form  ;  and  it  would  be 
truth  entire,  although  truth  in  part ;  whereas,  at  present, 
we  learn  little  if  any  thing,  and  especially  in  relation  to 
things  spiritual,  that  is  not  so  conveyed  as  to  give  birth 
to  many  errors  of  apprehension,  and  so  as  to  authenticate 
such  errors,  by  intermixture  with  unquestioned  truths. 
Language,  or  the  symbolic  conveyance  of  thought,  is  but 
a  melody,  sweet  yet  simple  ;  but  a  plenary  utterance  of 
the  soul,  such  as  we  have  here  imagined,  would,  in  com- 
parison, be  a  swelling  harmony  as  of  many  voices  and 
instruments. 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  105 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  NINTH  POINT  OF  ADVANTAGE  BELONGING  TO  THE 
CONTRAST  BETWEEN  ANIMAL  ORGANIZATION,  AND 
SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

THE  present  animal  body,  although  justly  considered 
as  the  instrument  and  auxiliary  of  the  mind,  is  very  far 
from  being  merely  such;  but  on  the  contrary,  has  its 
proper  interests,  and  its  peculiar  impulses  and  instincts  ; 
and  these  are  of  so  peremptory  a  sort  as  often  to  prevail 
absolutely  over  those  of  the  mind.  But  now  we  assume 
it  as  probable  that  the  future  corporeal  structure,  whether 
it  be  ethereal  or  palpable,  shall  be  the  INSTRUMENT  OF 
THE  MIND,  and  nothing  else,  that  it  shall  have  no  purely 
organic  welfare  to  provide  for;  and  in  a  word,  that  it 
shall,  in  the  strictest  sense,  be  the  servant  of  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  nature ;  just  as  the  hand,  the  foot,  or 
the  eye,  is  the  servant  of  the  body. 

The  serious,  and  too  often  fatal  disadvantage,  which 
we  undergo  in  commencing  life  as  animals  merely,  and 
in  having  the  interests  of  the  animal  nature,  consolidated 
and  secured  by  habits,  and  by  powerful  impulses,  before 
the  higher  welfare  of  the  soul,  or  of  the  intellect,  comes 
to  be  thought  of,  is  a  trite  subject  of  fruitless  complaint, 
and  one  not  necessary  here  to  be  insisted  upon.  This 
order  of  things  is  no  doubt  unavoidable,  and  abstractedly 
proper  to  the  initial  stage  of  our  existence  ;  but  it  is  easy 
to  conceive  of  a  very  different  economy,  and  one  that, 
10 


106  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

while  it  should  afford  all  the  benefits  derivable  from  a 
corporeal  union  of  mind  arid  matter,  would  be  exempt 
from  the  dangers  and  degradation  thence  accruing  in  the 
present  state. 

The  animal  body  is  not  only  mechanically  divisible, 
and  destructible  and  easily  injured,  but  it  is  also  in- 
cessantly preying  upon  itself;  and  it  speedily  dissolves, 
unless  sustained  by  assimilative  materials.  This  liability 
to  dissolution,  and  to  external  violence,  necessarily  in- 
volves keen  sensibilities,  and  powerful  appetites ;  and 
it  also  demands  an  instinctive  dread  of  death.  Now 
these  various  pleasurable  sensations  and  desires,  and 
these  sensibilities  to  pain,  and  these  instinctive  fears,  are 
ordinarily  paramount,  and  unremitted,  and  therefore  take 
the  lead  of  every  other  impulse,  and  give  law  to,  or 
virtually  overrule,  the  course  of  life,  and  to  a  great  extent 
countervail  what,  abstractedly,  we  should  say,  was  th<e 
intention  of  nature,  rendering  the  rational  faculties  and 
the  emotions  subordinate  to  the  preservation  and  plea- 
sures of  the  body.  The  rational  faculty  has  indeed  its 
tastes,  and  the  moral  faculty  has  its  impulses  ;  but  these 
principles  are  neither  incessant,  nor  of  absolute  and  im- 
perative necessity ;  they  therefore  learn  to  give  way  to 
that  which  will  not  give  way.  To  a  great  extent  it  must 
be  granted  that  the  body  serves  the  soul,  only  in  order 
that  the  soul  may  the  more  effectively  serve  the  body ; 
as  if  a  brute  held  a  man  in  bondage,  whom  it  compelled 
to  lend  his  superior  intelligence,  and  whom,  for  its  own 
purposes,  it  would  cheerfully  carry  and  help  at  bidding. 

Instead  of  all  this,  let  us  imagine  a  corporeal  frame, 
indestructible,  and  indivisible  ;  vital  without  waste,  and 
therefore  needing  no  pabulum,  or  none  but  such  as  may 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  107 

be  supplied  in  a  manner  analogous  to  that  in  which  the 
animal  body  derives  support  from  the  atmosphere,  and 
from  light  and  heat.  Such  a  body  would  need  no  in- 
stinctive dread  of  dissolution ;  nor  would  it  have  its 
cravings,  its  appetites,  or  its  sensual  propension ;  or  to 
say  all  in  a  word,  it  would  have  no  welfare  of  its  own  to 
care  for,  or  to  assert.  Instead  of  an  importunate  con- 
troversy, never  well  adjusted,  and  never  brought  to  a 
conclusion,  between  body  and  spirit,  there  would  be,  on 
the  one  side,  the  sheer  passivity  of  a  tool,  or  engine  ;  and 
on  the  other  side,  the  unchecked  supremacy  of  a  superior 
nature.  There  would  be  one  class  of  interests  only  to 
be  thought  of,  and  only  one  class  of  occupations  to  be 
followed.  The  body,  with  its  complement  of  powers, 
applicable  to  its  congenial  element — matter,  would  be 
to  the  spirit,  precisely  what  now  the  senses  and  the 
muscular  system  are  (while  in  a  healthy  condition)  to  the 
animal  will.  Not  only  do  not  the  eye,  and  the  ear,  and 
the  hand,  ever  repugnate,  or  plead  for  their  particular 
interests  ;  but  they  are  almost,  or  entirely,  forgotten, 
while  the  animal  will  is  eagerly  employing  them  to  effect 
its  purposes.  And  thus,  as  we  may  imagine,  the  spiritual 
body  shall  be  so  purely  the  instrument  of  the  master 
power,  that  it  will  barely,  if  at  all,  enter  into  the  con- 
sciousness as  a  separate  existence.  Perhaps  beings  who 
have  never  been  subjected  to  the  conditions  of  animal 
life  may,  although  actually  corporeal,  need  to  be  in- 
formed of  their  corporeity;  or  they  may  know  it,  rather 
by  reflection  and  inference,  than  by  immediate  con- 
sciousness ;  and  we  may  conceive  of  an  insulated  race 
of  spiritually  embodied  beings  who,  although  really  con- 
versant with  an  external  and  material  world,  would  have 


108  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

recourse  to  circuitous  deductions,  when  required  to  show 
that  any  thing  except  mind  existed. 

This  sort  of  absolute  subordination,  or  sheer  instrumen- 
tality of  the  body,  is,  we  say,  readily  conceived  of;  and 
it  is  clearly  a  condition  of  being  abstractedly  possible, 
and  such  as  may  in  fact  be  now  the  prerogative  of  the 
most  exalted  natures.  There  are  however  reasons  for 
doubting  whether,  in  the  full  sense,  as  above  stated,  it  is 
intended  for  man,  or  at  least  in  the  next  stage  or  stages 
of  his  existence ;  and  it  is  separable  from  those  other 
advantages  which,  in  the  preceding  pages,  we  have 
ventured  to  assign  to  the  future  spiritual  body.  This 
body  may  indeed  be  immortal,  indivisible,  and  exempt 
from  the  necessities  of  aliment  and  clothing ;  but  in  so 
far  as  it  is  still  assimilated  with  the  material  world,  per- 
cipient of  the  properties  of  matter,  and  therefore  so  far 
passive,  the  mind,  by  this  alliance,  may  yet  be  suscepti- 
ble of  pleasures,  not  proper  to  pure  spirit,  and  such  as 
may  give  occasion  to  the  continued  exercise  of  self-com- 
mand ;  and  it  may  still  be  bound  to  use  abstinence,  and 
to  cherish  nobler  counteractive  tastes.  Then  again,  as 
is  quite  obvious,  whoever,  by  alliance  with  matter,  is 
open  to  sensitive  pleasures,  is  likely  to  be  liable,  nay,  we 
should  say,  is  necessarily  liable  to  the  the  suffering  of 
pain,  from  exposure  to  other  properties  of  matter,  as  for 
example,  to  the  intensity  of  fire.  This  point  well  de- 
serves attention ;  nor  is  the  chain  of  inferences  on  which 
our  reasoning  depends,  long  or  circuitous.  Corporeity 
is,  by  its  definition,  an  amalgamation  of  mind  and  mat- 
ter, in  consequence  of  which  the  former  exerts  certain 
powers  over  the  latter,  and  in  turn  becomes  passively 
conscious  of  its  properties.  Of  these  properties  it  is 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  109 

conscious,  first  in  the  way  of  mere  distinction;  and 
secondly,  in  the  way  of  gratification,  and  of  suffering ;  — 
of  pleasure  and  pain.  Now  it  is  hardly  to  be  admitted 
as  possible,  that  a  corporeal  structure  —  the  vehicle  of 
mind,  should  be  open  to  the  one  class  of  sensations,  and 
not  to  the  other :  in  fact,  the  one  is  often  nothing  more 
than  an  extreme  or  excess  of  the  other ;  and  it  is  as  easy 
to  think  of  the  mind's  being  conscious  of  light  and 
colours,  but  unconscious  of  their  absence  and  their  op- 
posites,  or  of  darkness  and  blackness,  as  of  its  percipi- 
ence  of  sensitive  pleasure,  while  incapable  of  sensitive 
pain.  It  is  true  that  the  mind  may  be  removed  from  the 
actual  occasion  of  pain  ;  or  it  may  be  shielded  from  it ; 
but  yet  it  must,  as  we  suppose,  be  essentially  liable 
thereto,  if  it  be  at  all  passive  in  relation  to  the  properties 
of  matter. 

Moreover,  as  there  appears  to  be  a  physical  con- 
nexion, or  necessary  correspondence,  between  the  one 
class  of  sensations  and  the  other,  so  likewise  are  we 
compelled  to  suppose  that  there  is  a  moral  relation  be- 
tween the  two ;  or  a  necessary  connexion,  arising  from 
the  constitution  of  free  and  accountable  agents.  For  all 
the  analogies  at  present  within  our  reach,  tend  to  con- 
firm the  opinion  that  those  higher  and  purer  motives  in 
which  virtue  essentially  consists,  demand,  as  their  sup- 
port, the  concurrent  influence  of  certain  lower  and  more 
cogent  motives  ;  —  those  namely  which  spring  from  an 
abstract  liability  to  corporeal  misery.  And  if  the  mind 
is  to  hold  converse  with  matter  pleasurably,  this  acces- 
sion of  the  means  of  enjoyment  is  probably  to  be  balanced 
by  such  a  liability  to  pain  as  may  effectively  check  the 
too  eager  pursuit  of  a  lower  and  dangerous  species  of 
10* 


110  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

felicity.  Is  there  not  reason  in  the  supposition  that  the 
two  kinds  of  passivity  are  necessary  and  constant  an- 
titheses, the  one  of  the  other,  as  well  in  a  moral  as  in  a 
physical  sense?  If  man,  in  a  future  and  higher  stage  of 
his  existence,  is  to  exult  in  the  brightness  and  beauty  of 
a  fair  and  new  creation,  and  is  to  delight  himself  in  con- 
trasts and  agreements  of  colour,  glowing  amid  a  universal 
effulgence ;  if  he  is  to  perceive  all  sweets  and  perfumes, 
and  to  be  ravished  with  forms,  melodies,  and  harmonies, 
can  this  corporeal  bliss  be  tasted  on  any  other  condition 
than  that  of  its  being  possible  for  him  to  endure  the  an- 
guish of  fire,  the  vehemence  of  frost,  the  distraction  of 
discord,  the  horror  of  deformity,  and  the  pungent  corro- 
sion of  acrid  poisons  ?  And  again,  if  the  most  elevated 
and  the  purest  sort  of  happiness,  —  that  most  proper  to 
the  spirit, — is  to  be  softened  down,  attenuated,  blended, 
by  taking  its  turn  with  pleasures  of  an  inferior  kind,  and 
if  in  this  manner  complex  sentiments  are  to  be  generated 
(which  in  fact  appear  necessary  to  the  harmony  of  the 
intellectual  life)  if  this  is  to  take  place,  then  must  not 
those  who  are  thus  open  to  what  we  must  call  the  seduc- 
tions of  corporeal  enjoyment  —  must  they  not  have  in 
recollection,  as  a  silent  dread,  the  abstract  possibility,  at 
least,  not  merely  of  moral  and  intellectual  degradation, 
and  a  loss  of  the  noblest  tastes  ;  but  of  exposure  to  the 
terrible  wretchedness  of  continued  corporeal  pain? 

As  a  leading  hint  for  meditations  of  this  sort,  let  it  be 
remembered  that  no  expectations  we  are  able  to  form, 
on  the  ground  of  physical  analogies,  such,  for  example, 
as  those  that  have  occupied  the  preceding  pages,  or  any 
others  which  to  the  reader  may  seem  more  probable, 
throw  any  light  upon  the  momentous  question,  whether 
in  the  next  stage  of  our  existence  we  shall  find  ourselves 


OF  THE 

'TJH1VERSI 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE. 

MORE  HAPPY,  or  less  so,  than  we  are  at  present 
are,  indeed,  the  strongest  reasons  for  supposing  (revela- 
tion apart)  that  human  nature  is  destined  to  expand  its 
actual  powers,  and  to  occupy  a  wider  sphere  of  action 
and  of  knowledge,  than  it  does  in  the  present  state ;  but 
then  this  future  advancement  (like  some  advancements 
of  the  present  life)  may  rather  expose  us  to  heavier 
cares  and  pains,  than  augment  our  enjoyment,  or  secure 
our  peace.  The  actual  condition  of  mankind  (taken  at 
large)  will  by  no  means  warrant  our  confidently  assuming 
that  a  physical  and  intellectual  progression  must  imply 
an  increase  of  happiness  and  virtue ;  nor,  when  the 
moral  state  of  a  large  proportion,  or  of  the  mass  of  man- 
kind is  duly  considered,  can  we,  on  the  strength  of  ab- 
stract arguments,  drawn  from  the  divine  attributes  of 
benevolence  and  wisdom,  deduce  with  safety  the  in- 
ference that  the  millions  of  our  fellow-men  are  moving 
forward  on  the  road  to  goodness  and  felicity.  On  the 
contrary,  appalling  facts  that  force  themselves  on  our 
reluctant  notice,  in  relation  to  the  habits,  usages,  and 
propensities  of  several  races  of  the  human  family,  wear 
the  most  grim  and  gloomy  aspect,  and  are  such  as  to 
suggest  forebodings  as  painful  as  the  mind  can  admit. 
Individually,  indeed,  we  may  entertain  a  cheerful  and 
rational  hope  concerning  the  future  life  ;  but  then  the 
grounds  of  it  must  be  drawn  altogether  from  another 
quarter  —  namely,  from  the  specific  inferences  of  our 
belief  as  Christians.  But  to  this  subject  a  little  more 
attention  is  due,  before  we  advance  to  the  second  por- 
tion of  our  theory  of  another  life. 


112  PHYSICAL     THEORY 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE  BALANCED  PROBABILITY  OF  HAPPINESS  OR  MISERY 
INVOLVED  IN  THE  PHYSICAL  THEORY  OF  ANOTHER 
LIFE. 

IN  reviewing  and  recapitulating  the  several  particu- 
lars of  this  first  portion  of  our  physical  theory  of  another 
life,  it  may  be  well  to  advert,  for  a  moment,  to  each 
singly,  with  the  view  of  showing  more  in  detail,  that  each 
of  these  points  of  supposed  advantage  —  each  conjec- 
tural prerogative  of  the  spiritual  body,  stands  evenly  bal- 
anced between  happiness  and  suffering,  as  a  means  of 
augmenting,  indifferently,  the  one  or  the  other,  as  thus :  — 

By  the  senses  of  sight  and  hearing,  by  the  excursive 
power  of  the  imagination,  and  by  the  far -stretching  de- 
ductions of  science,  we  now  take  mental  possession  of  a 
vast  extent  of  the  visible  world ;  and  the  power  of  actually 
traversing  the  fields  of  the  material  universe,  we  may, 
with  some  show  of  reason,  anticipate,  as  intended  for  a 
being  to  whom  already  so  much  has  been  granted.  Does 
it  not  seem  that,  at  present,  while  some  of  the  faculties, 
corporeal  and  mental,  greatly  exceed  others  in  the  range 
or  sphere  that  is  allowed  them,  there  is  an  incomplete- 
ness, or  a  want  of  balance,  in  our  constitution  ?  We  are 
tenants  of  a  spacious  house  ;  but  although  we  have  the 
run  of  certain  apartments,  we  are  only  permitted  to  look 
into  the  halls  and  the  saloons.  But  shall  not  the  re- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  113 

striction  in  time  be  removed,  and  man  find  all  doors  of 
the  palace  thrown  open  to  him?  Man,  who  now  pos- 
sesses the  faculty  to  comprehend,  and  the  taste  to  ad- 
mire, the  divine  works,  shall  at  length,  as  we  may  infer, 
enjoy  the  liberty  of  following  the  Creator,  wherever  or- 
der and  beauty  are  displayed.  The  mind  shall  find  it- 
self competent,  corporeally,  to  every  labour,  and  to  every 
adventure  which  its  high  rational  desires  may  impel  it 
to  attempt ;  nor,  in  the  mere  destitution  of  mechanical 
means,  shall  it  be  left  to  sigh,  and  to  confess  that  its  no- 
blest ambition  is  frustrate ;  and  that,  although  endowed 
with  a  seraph's  intelligence,  and  incited  by  an  insatiate 
thirst  of  knowledge  and  desire  of  action,  it  is  gifted  only 
with  a  locomotive  power  fit  for  the  brute  that  grazes  in 
a  meadow !  The  complement  of  the  human  faculties 
shall  (may  we  not  confidently  say  it?)  be  at  length  filled 
up,  and  the  body  be  put  in  symmetry  with  the  range  of 
the  mind. 

But  then  every  faculty  has  its  impulse,  and,  when  re- 
pressed, its  wrestling  uneasiness ;  and  this  species  of 
agony  bears  proportion  to  the  inherent  extent  and  the  en- 
ergy of  that  faculty.  And  if  now,  when  the  locomotive 
power  has  but  a  very  narrow  range  ;  and  when  the  exer- 
cise of  it,  although  pleasurable  at  first,  very  soon  pro- 
duces fatigue  and  pain  —  if  now,  we  say,  corporeal  re- 
straint and  imprisonment  be  one  of  the  most  intolerable 
of  bodily  ills,  what  shall  imprisonment  be  when  the  lo- 
comotive energy  is  a  thousand  times  more  vehement 
than  at  present,  and  when  the  exercise  of  it  is  attended 
with  no  conscious  effort,  and  is  followed  by  no  lassitude, 
and  when  the  widest  and  the  fairest  fields  shall  lie  before 
it?  The  chain  of  the  captive  is  galling,  just  in  propor- 
tion, or  nearly  so,  to  the  captive's  animal  vigour  and  elas- 


114  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

tic  spirit.  Let  it  then  be  imagined  that  the  future  man, 
new  born  to  his  inheritance,  of  absolute  mechanical  force 
—  the  inherent  force  of  mind,  and  finding  himself  able 
at  will  to  traverse  all  spaces,  should,  in  the  very  hour 
wherein  he  has  made  proof  of  his  recent  faculty,  be  stop- 
ped, either  by  malignant  superior  powers,  or  by  the  dread 
ministers  of  justice,  and,  on  account  of  forgotten  mis- 
deeds, be  seized,  enchained,  incarcerated  !  Might  we 
not,  with  a  rational  consistency,  and  in  conformity  with 
some  of  the  actual  procedures  of  the  present  social  sys- 
tem, imagine,  for  example,  the  merciless  tyrant  who  in 
cold  revenge  has  held  the  innocent  in  his  dungeons 
through  long  years,  or  the  ruffian  slave  dealer,  just  burst- 
ing from  the  thralls  of  mortality,  and  proudly  careering 
through  mid-heaven;  but  only  to  encounter  there  some 
more  fierce  and  stronger  than  himself,  who,  with  mock- 
ery showing  their  warrant  from  Eternal  Justice,  shall 
grapple  with  his  young  vigour,  hale  him  to  the  abyss, 
find  there  a  chain  strong  enough  to  bind  him,  and  rivet 
him  to  the  rock,  where  he  is  to  chafe,  and  taste  the  re- 
tributive miseries  of  captivity,  and  the  fruitless  strivings 
and  writhings  of  a  power  sufficient,  if  it  were  not  bound, 
to  bear  him  from  star  to  star !  All  this  is  so  credible 
abstractedly,  and  so  readily  conceived  of  on  the  ground 
of  common  facts,  that  one  can  hardly  think  of  it  other- 
wise than  as  actually  true. 

Many  similar  conceptions,  which  often  break  upon  the 
mind  uncalled,  and  which  even,  when  strictly  examined, 
refuse  to  be  dismissed  as  mere  dreams  —  many  such 
conceptions  which,  whether  or  not  they  have  their  arche- 
types in  any  region  of  the  universe,  are  at  least  reasona- 
ble enough  to  answer  the  purpose  of  convincing  us  that 
those  enchantments  of  our  powers  which  are  to  be  ex- 


OFANOTHER     LIFE.  115 

pected  in  a  future  life,  may  be  either  the  means  of  enjoy- 
ment, or  the  means  of  misery,  according  as  our  moral 
condition,  and  the  great  rules  of  the  divine  government, 
shall  determine. 

Or  let  us  take  up  another  sort  of  alternative ;  and  in 
order  to  conceive  the  more  distinctly  of  the  happy  part 
of  it,  imagine  the  instance  of  a  spirit,  which,  in  the  ini- 
tial period  of  its  existence,  has  been  secluded  from  the 
material  universe,  and  acquainted  only  with  intellectual 
abstractions,  and  with  pure  moral  emotions  ;  such  a  spi- 
rit, already  capable  of  reflecting  upon  and  of  compre- 
hending the  change  it  is  passing  through,  we  suppose, 
gradually  to  awake  to  a  consciousness  of  the  properties 
of  matter,  one  by  one:  hitherto  totally  destitute  of  ideas 
and  sensations,  it  is  now  slowly  born  to  corporeal  exist- 
ence ;  it  becomes  conscious  of  solidity,  and  gropes  its 
way  along  extended  surfaces,  and  in  learning  the  power 
of  resistance  in  these  surfaces,  it  learns  its  own  new 
power  of  originating  motion,  and  of  traversing  space.  It 
begins  then  to  grasp  the  external  world,  and  seems  to 
itself  to  have  taken  possession  of  a  foreign  nature,  and 
by  the  aid  of  the  contrast,  thence  arising,  it  comes  to 
think,  for  the  first  time,  of  its  own  spiritual  nature,  as  a 
distinct  being  ;  by  the  knowledge  of  another  species,  it 
comprehends  and  reflects  upon  its  own  species,  which  we 
may  suppose  to  have  been  abstractedly  impossible  so 
long  as  one  kind  of  being  only  was  known.  Thus  the 
spirit's  birth  into  the  world  of  matter,  is  almost  equiva- 
lent, perhaps  quite  so,  to  a  new  birth  into  the  world  of 
mind. 

But  other  sensations  follow  in  their  turn.  This  solid 
extension  with  which  it  has  become  conversant,  is  per- 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 

ceived  to  be  not  of  uniform  quality ;  for  besides  its  me- 
chanical properties,  its  hardness,  softness,  roughness, 
and  weight,  it  affects  the  sensitive  faculty  by  its  chemi- 
cal properties,  in  all  their  variety  ;  —  its  pungencies,  its 
flavours,  its  perfumes ;  and  each  new  property,  as  it 
comes  to  be  perceived,  enlarges  the  mind's  circle  of  con- 
scious existence.  Then  next  the  vibrations  of  sound 
call  it  to  enter  a  new  world  ;  and  melody  and  harmony, 
breaking  suddenly  upon  the  soul,  cause  it  to  feel  as  if 
another  spirit  had  been  added  to  itself;  or  as  if  another 
being,  happy,  empassioned,  and  ecstatic,  had  come  to  be 
blended  with  it,  and  to  double  its  power  of  enjoyment. 
Recollecting  its  primitive  state  of  mere  intellectuality,  it 
now  feels  itself  to  be  three  or  five  times  more  than  it 
then  was.  But  the  range  of  perception  still  enlarges, 
and  this  mind,  in  the  course  of  its  birth  to  the  material 
world,  becomes  alive  to  warmth —  genial  and  pleasura- 
ble sense,  and  yet  an  ominous  sense  also.  Has  it  not 
now  reached  the  boundary  of  sensitive  existence?  no,  for 
in  the  next  instant  light  breaks  in  upon  it  with  a  sudden 
amazement,  and  the  universe  with  all  its  beauties  and 
glories,  and  its  immensity,  stands  revealed !  We  said, 
that  the  first  perception  of  sound  and  harmony  was  as  if 
another  rich  spirit  had  been  added  to  the  individual  con- 
sciousness ;  but  this  new  perception  of  light  is  nothing 
less  than  the  having  the  individual  consciousness,  here- 
tofore gathered  about  a  centre,  expanded  without  a 
bound,  and  made  capable  of  a  sort  of  ubiquity.  To  see, 
and  in  seeing,  to  converse  with  all  forms  of  grace  and 
grandeur,  is  to  have  the  life  multiplied  a  million  times ; 
and  it  is  to  stretch  existence  and  enjoyment  to  the  height 
and  width  of  the  universe.  Thus  far  we  have  followed 
the  new  born  mind  to  the  limit  of  sensations  actually  en- 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  117 

joyed  by  ourselves ;  but  there  yet  remains  all  that  fur- 
ther consciousness  of  the  properties,  and  of  the  internal 
constitution  of  the  material  world,  which  lies  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  human  organs  of  sensation ;  —  all  that 
which  is  too  subtile,  or  too  intense,  or  too  remote,  to  be 
admitted  or  sustained  by  the  animal  brain  and  nerves  ; 
and  this  yet  unknown  portion  of  the  properties  of  matter, 
not  improbably,  vastly  exceeds  the  portion  which  animal 
life  allows  of  our  perceiving;  and  we  are  free  to  suppose 
when  a  more  refined  and  an  imperishable  corporeity  shall 
be  inherited  by  man,  that  then  the  means  of  knowledge, 
and  the  faculty  of  sensitive  enjoyment  shall  be  aug- 
mented tenfold  ;  so  that  its  future  new  birth  into  the  ma- 
terial universe  shall  quicken  and  amaze  the  human  spi- 
rit as  much  as  we  have  imagined  the  pure  spirit  to  be 
awakened  and  delighted,  in  passing  from  mere  abstract 
intellectual  life,  to  sensitive  life,  such  as  we  now  actually 
possess  it. 

Yet  all  this  manifestly  is  only  the  favourable  side  of 
an  alternative  ;  for  our  daily  experience  teaches  us,  that 
sensations  which  are  pleasurable  within  a  certain  limit, 
are  first  uneasy,  and  then  painful  beyond  it;  so  that 
agreeable  sensation  may  be  called  the  delicious  initial 
stage  of  a  process,  the  last  stage  of  which,  if  it  comes, 
is  intolerable  anguish.  Every  species  of  sensitive  en- 
joyment needs  a  stay ;  and  it  is  enjoyment  so  long  only 
as  it  is  moderated :  in  other  words,  the  mind,  in  becom- 
ing conscious  of  the  properties  of  matter,  is  laid  open  to 
the  extremes  of  pleasure  and  pain ;  and  it  may  endure 
the  one  as  soon  as  enjoy  the  other ;  the  most  thrilling 
delights  are  but  the  a,  b,  c,  of  insupportable  torment. 
What,  for  example,  is  an  extreme  case  of  neuralgia,  but 
a  point  at  the  lower  limit  of  the  very  scale  upon  which 
11 


118  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

are  marked  the  nice  degrees  of  animal  felicity?  Only 
let  the  inherent  sensitive  faculty  of  the  mind  be  entirely 
excoriated,  if  we  might  so  speak,  and  itself  be  turned 
out  upon  the  material  world,  to  feel  and  to  taste,  without 
abatement,  the  whole  stress  of  all  its  properties,  and  it 
must  suffer  anguish  in  a  thousand  modes.  In  the  present 
animal  body  the  mind's  sensitiveness  to  light,  for  in- 
stance, is  sheathed  and  restricted  ;  how  small  is  the  op- 
tic expansion,  and  how  is  this  small  surface  curtained, 
and  provided  with  means  of  seclusion !  The  mind  con- 
verses with  light  in  a  jealous  way,  and  much  as  the  be- 
sieged hold  a  parley  with  the  besiegers,  when  the  latter 
are  ten  thousand  to  one  of  the  former;  that  is  to  say,  a 
few  of  the  enemy  only  are  admitted  within  the  gates  at 
a  time.  Fully  exposed  to  the  vibrations  of  light,  the 
mind,  even  at  the  dimmest  twilight,  would  suffer  an 
agony  of  excitement;  and  under  the  beams  of  noon  must 
be  maddened  with  torment.  Need  we  go  on  to  speak 
of  heat,  of  which  the  lowest  degrees  only  are  pleasur- 
able, while  a  slight  augmentation  of  its  intensity  totally 
vanquishes  the  fortitude  of  ordinary  minds ;  and  none 
perhaps  could  retain  self-command  longer  than  a  few 
minutes  if  left  to  feel  its  extremity.  And  let  it  be  re- 
membered, that  although  the  animal  texture,  the  muscu- 
lar fibre,  the  nerve,  and  the  vessels,  are  presently  dis- 
solved, or  consumed,  by  the  action  of  fire,  and  so  the 
animal  anguish  reaches  its  end,  yet  that  we  assume  far 
too  much  if  we  conclude  that  the  sensitive  faculty  of  the 
mind  is  itself  liable  to  any  such  dissolution.  Fire  re- 
duces to  vapour  or  to  ashes,  that  which,  by  its  nature, 
may  exist  indifferently  in  a  solid  and  organized,  or  in  a 
gaseous,  or  a  pulverized  form.  But  is  the  mind  sus- 
ceptible of  vaporization,  or  can  it  be  reduced  to  pow- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  119 

der?  We  suppose  not,  and  therefore  believe  it  might 
sustain,  undestroyed  and  undamaged,  the  utmost  inten- 
sity of  heat ;  nor  is  it  certain  that  every  species  of  cor- 
poreity must  give  way,  and  be  dissipated  by  this  ele- 
ment. 

There  is  room  for  the  same  statement  in  relation  to 
every  property  of  matter,  which  we  find  intensely  to  ef- 
fect the  sensitive  principle ;  such  as  the  corrosive  poi- 
sons ;  and  perhaps  we  owe  it,  at  present,  to  the  insensi- 
bility of  our  animal  organization,  or  to  its  neutralizing 
inertness,  that  the  material  world  does  not,  in  a  thousand 
modes,  affect  us  as  do  arsenic  and  oxalic  acid  when  taken 
into  the  stomach.  Enough  we  know  to  be  sure,  that 
(apart  from  considerations  of  a  religious  kind)  the  proba- 
bilities of  enhanced  pleasure  or  pain,  in  coming  more 
fully  into  contact  with  matter  and  its  properties,  are 
evenly  balanced. 

Again :  —  a  discernment  or  intuitive  knowledge  of  the 
interior  constitution  and  the  occult  forms  of  the  material 
system,  we  have  named  as  likely  to  be  enjoyed  when  tho 
mind  enters  upon  its  state  of  spiritual  corporeity,  and  we 
have  conjectured  that  this  immediate  perception  of  the 
mechanism  of  nature,  beside  the  pleasure  it  may  directly 
afford,  will  involve  a  higher  advantage,  inasmuch  as,  by 
disengaging  the  attention  from  those  physical  truths, 
which  now  principally  excite  curiosity,  and  employ  the 
reasoning  faculty,  it  shall  send  the  mind  forward  with  its 
insatiable  thirst  of  knowledge,  toward  the  more  excellent 
and  sublime  mysteries  of  the  spiritual  economy,  and  of 
the  Divine  Nature.  But  then  this  advantage  demands 
certain  moral  conditions  in  the  mind  itself,  or  it  must  be- 


120 


PHYSICAL      THEORY 


come  the  occasion  of  an  enhanced  misery :  and  that  in 
two  ways  ;  as  thus  :  — 

The  pleasures,  organic  and  mental,  arising  from  ob- 
jects of  sense,  are,  to  a  great  extent,  as  we  well  know, 
dependent  upon  our  being  able  to  keep  entire  many  illu- 
sions, and  certain  natural  exaggerations,  which  at  once 
conceal  what  might  awaken  disgust,  and  impart  to  these 
enjoyments  a  fictitious  importance.  All  gratifications  of 
the  senses,  and  all  the  pleasures  of  taste  and  all  the  ex- 
citements of  worldly  pleasure  —  all  the  pride,  and  all 
the  pomp  of  life,  demand  largely  the  aid  of  artificial 
lights,  and  glare,  or  in  plain  words,  of  deception,  to  eke 
out  their  essential  poverty,  and  to  render  them  what  the 
mind  can,  and  will,  care  for.  Every  day  we  stoop  to  be 
cheated  and  delighted  with  what  we  should  scorn  or 
loathe,  if  offered  to  us  in  its  naked  value.  But,  by  the 
law  of  habit,  a  long  course  of  exclusive  regard  to  illusive 
gratifications  of  (his  sort,  brings  the  mind  into  a  state  in 
which,  at  length,  it  ceases  to  recollect  that  an  illusion  is 
an  illusion  —  ceases  to  reclaim  its  native  superiority, 
and  becomes  the  passive  victim  of  the  sleights  and  tricks 
of  worldly  pleasure.  The  soul  is  at  last  smothered  in 
the  trumpery  of  vulgar  and  sensual  delight.  Now  to  a 
mind  thus  wedded  by  inveterate  habit  to  all  that  is  false 
and  unreal,  the  new  faculty  of  seeing  through  forms  and 
semblances,  and  of  keenly  and  clearly  discerning  the  un- 
adorned mechanism  of  things  material,  must  at  once  strip 
it  of  its  all,  and  reduce  it  to  a  pitiable  destitution.  The 
gold  will  no  longer  shine,  the  diamond  no  longer  sparkle; 
the  plumed  pomp  of  rank  will  be  a  nothing  —  set  about 
with  quills  ;  and  this  plump  world,  sleek  with  delicacies, 
is  at  once  shrivelled  to  an  atrophy;  and  the  material  uni- 
verse, lately  so  gay  and  blooming  to  the  idolatrous  eye 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  121 

of  its  devotee,  starts  to  view,  as  a  gaunt  skeleton,  barely 
knit  together  with  its  sear  sinews. 

Or  we  may  look  at  the  natural  consequence  of  this 
supposed  intuition  of  the  occult  construction  of  the  ma- 
terial system  on  another  side.  The  entire  nature  of 
things  material  once  seen,  and  seen  without  a  shadow  of 
uncertainty,  and  all  known  at  a  glance  which  it  is  the 
glory  of  our  physical  sciences  to  discover ;  and  then  the 
mind,  by  the  necessity  of  its  constitution,  is  thrown  for- 
ward toward  higher  objects,  and  its  inherent  curiosity  is 
fixed  upon  the  next  range  of  unknown  principles.  But 
what  must  these  principles  relate  to?  Unquestionably 
they  must  jnvolve,  if  they  do  not  exclusively  embrace, 
the  awful  verities  of  the  Divine  Nature.  It  is  these 
truths  that  must  stand  forward  next,  after  the  material 
system  is  understood.  And  yet,  while  this  physical  ne- 
cessity of  moving  forward  impels  the  mind  irresistibly  to 
approach  the  Ineffable  Perfection,  perhaps  its  own  moral 
condition,  and  its  confirmed  impure  tastes,  are  of  a  kind 
that  would  lead  it  to  escape,  and  to  hide  itself  from  the 
brightness  of  Eternal  Truth.  We  may  imagine  an  in- 
sufferable conflict,  rending  the  soul  perpetually,  and  urging 
it  vehemently  to  penetrate  a  mystery,  and  to  learn  that 
which,  when  actually  known,  must  inflict  upon  it  the  tor- 
tures of  self-contempt,  remorse,  and  despair. 

Once  more :  —  A  very  obvious  train  of  thought,  and 
one  by  which  we  need  not  be  here  detained,  will  lead  us 
to  admit  that  the  boon  of  a  plenary  memory,  or  a  per- 
petual and  perfect  consciousness  of  all  that  has,  in  any 
period,  belonged  to  our  corporeal  and  mental  existence, 
will  prove  a  blessing  only  to  those  whose  whole  consti- 
tution, moral  and  intellectual,  is  in  harmony;  and  a  curse 
11* 


122  PHYSICAL     THEORT 

to  any  within  whose  bosoms  vehement  and  malign  pas- 
sions are  at  variance,  and  are  all  at  war  with  the  unal- 
terable principles  of  virtue.  Memory  is  the  fuel  of  re- 
morse ;  and  how  intensely  will  that  fire  burn  which  shall 
be  supplied  with  its  material  in  a  hundred-fold  propor- 
tion to  what  it  is  in  the  present  life !  But  on  this  topic 
the  reader's  meditations  can  need  no  prompting. 

Then  a  similar  train  of  inferences  may  be  pursued  in 
relation  to  the  supposed  substitution  of  a  real  and  ra- 
tional association  of  ideas,  for  an  accidental  and  organic 
succession  of  thoughts  and  feelings.  The  bliss  of  folly, 
and  the  laughing  infatuation  of  vice,  are  sustained,  in 
great  measure,  by  the  aid  of  that  whimsical  and  irrational 
series  of  images  which  ordinarily  diverts  the  mind  from 
the  consideration  of  its  real  condition,  and  its  welfare. 
And  these  fantastic  images  become  more  and  more 
homogeneous  with  the  actual  moral  tastes,  and  therefore 
more  and  more  enchain  the  attention,  and  exclude  truth 
and  reason.  The  dissipation  of  these  dreams  would  be, 
to  a  mind  enthralled  by  them,  a  sad  and  terrible  awaken- 
ing. On  the  contrary,  if  the  mind  has  really  set  forward 
on  the  road  of  virtue  and  wisdom,  and  intently  desires 
truth  —  the  highest  truth,  and  nothing  else  ;  then  nothing 
so  propitious,  or  so  happily  exciting*  could  happen  to  it, 
as  to  be  exempted,  and  for  ever,  from  the  tyranny  of 
organic  suggestions,  and  from  the  brute  despotism  of 
mere  fortuity,  within  the  sacred  precincts  of  its  medita- 
tions and  emotions. 

The  very  same  alternative  presents  itself,  if  we  think 
of  the  probable  consequences,  either  of  an  enlarged 
power  of  attending  simultaneously  to  various  objects, 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  123 

and  of  carrying  on  various  operations,  or  to  the  faculty 
of  perceiving  abstract  relations,  at  a  glance.     Far  each 
of  these  advancements,  while  it  liberates  the  wise  and 
sincere  from  mental  embarrassments,  and  frees  them 
from  occasions  of  error,  will  strip  the  unwise  and  the 
false-hearted  of  those  means  of  illusion  which,  with  a 
half  conscious  perversity,  they  have  been  wont  to  em- 
ploy for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  their  self  esteem. 
To  rational  natures,  illusions  must  be  temporary ;  but  it 
is  not  certain  that  a  cordial  arid  happy  admission  of  truth, 
and  a  submission  to  the  practical  consequences  of  truth, 
will  immediately  and  naturally  follow  the  dissipation  of 
error;   for  between  the  mere  intellectual  perception  of 
any  principle,  and  a  yielding  to  the  inference  thence  re- 
sulting, there  intervenes,  not  only  contrary  desires  and 
inveterate  habits,  but  the  sheer  stubbornness  of  the  will, 
or  that  energy  of  pride  which  is  seen  to  be  the  firmest 
element  of  human  nature,  and  the  one  which,  least  of  all, 
and  last  of  all,  is  open  to  the  influence  of  considerations 
of  personal  welfare ;   nor  are  instances  rare,  wherein, 
with  a  clear  and  distinct  choice,  personal  welfare  —  self- 
interest  entire,  has  been  held  in  contempt,  and  has  been 
forever  thrown  away,  for  the  saving  of  pride,  and  for  the 
preservation  of  a  stubborn  purpose.     Now  what  happens 
(we  may  say  ordinarily,  or  often)   in  the  present  state, 
may  be  reckoned  upon  as  likely  to  happen  also  in  a 
future  state ;  and  it  may  then  be  seen  that  intelligent 
beings,  under  the  full  glare  of  the  eternal  principles  of 
truth  and  virtue ;  will  nevertheless  spurn  to  confess  the 
application  of  these  truths  to  their  own  individual  case, 
and  will  choose  rather  to  endure  the  worst  consequences 
of  persisting  in  a  false  position.     There  are  few,  perhaps, 
who,  if  they  would  look  closely  into  their  hearts,  might 


124  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

not  find  the  indications  at  least,  of  feelings  which,  under 
certain  circumstances,  would  impel  them  to  act  in  the 
obdurate  manner  we  have  here  supposed. 

There  is  however  this  difference  to  be  noted,  namely, 
that,  in  the  present  state,  let  truth  be  brought  home  to 
our  convictions  ever  so  clearly,  at  certain  times,  there  is 
yet  always  left  behind  a  reserve  of  sophisms,  or  of 
specious  exceptions,  or  evasions  ;  there  is  always  a 
mistiness  and  a  dimness,  to  which,  after  a  little  while,  the 
mind  may  revert,  and  so  may  fondly  persuade  itself  that 
things  are  not  really  as  they  have  been  represented. 
But  this  refuge  of  lies,  must,  as  we  suppose,  be  entirely 
broken  up  with  the  breaking  up  of  that  animal  organiza- 
tion of  the  mind  whence  chiefly  illusions  arise ;  nor 
could  these  fallacies  ever  again  be  resorted  to,  after  the 
faculty  of  discerning  intuitively  the  abstract  relations  of 
things  had  come  into  play.  The  mind  would  then,  and 
would  incessantly  have  in  view  the  unalterable  verities 
of  moral  order  and  goodness,  just  as  we  now  apprehend 
the  simplest  mathematical  propositions,  and  yet  would 
(or  might)  wrestle  against  the  plain  consequence,  as 
applied  to  itself,  with  an  unabated  determination  never 
to  confess  it  —  never  to  bend,  or  to  say,  "I  have  sinned, 
and  am  in  the  wrong."  Such  a  struggle  between  the 
intellect  and  the  will,  going  on  while  the  personal  welfare 
was  dismally  sacrificed,  cannot  be  conceived  of  other- 
wise than  as  involving  utter  wretchedness. 

Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that,  although,  at  present, 
owing  in  part  to  the  extreme  indistinctness  and  variable- 
ness of  language,  in  part  to  the  organic  imperfections  of 
individual  minds,  and  in  great  part  too  arising  from  our 
want  of  immediate  communication  with  the  spiritual 
world  —  owing  we  say  to  these  causes,  even  the  simplest 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  125 

elements  of  moral  truth  never  force  themselves  irresisti- 
bly upon  our  assent ;  whereas,  when  these  obscurities 
and  ambiguities  shall  have  passed  away,  moral  truth, 
probably,  will  be  the  simplest  and  most  certain,  and  the 
most  irresistibly  convincing  of  all  kinds  of  truth,  not 
excepting  mathematical  axioms;  so  that  the  mind,  if  it 
be  not  happily  in  harmony  with  these  principles,  shall  be 
crushed  under  their  weight,  and  be  totally  unable  so 
much  as  to  raise  itself  into  an  attitude  of  resistance, 
although  still  repugnant  in  will.  As  the  most  dis- 
tressing uneasiness  to  which  upright  minds  are  now 
liable  is  that  occasioned  by  misgivings  and  perplexities 
concerning  the  great  moral  system,  so,  in  the  future 
state,  as  we  may  believe,  shall  an  intensity  of  disquiet 
affect  the  perverse,  the  unjust,  and  the  impure,  from  the 
glaring  brightness  and  certainty  of  the  principles  of  that 
same  system. 

We  have  alluded  to  the  benefits  and  pleasures  likely 
to  result  from  the  substitution  of  a  perfect  medium  of 
communication  among  minds,  in  the  place  of  the  rude 
and  inadequate  symbols  which  compose  our  mundane 
languages.  And  yet  here  again  this  high  advantage  can 
be  no  blessing  apart  from  goodness,  integrity,  purity,  in 
those  to  whom  it  shall  attach.  All  powers  and  qualities, 
whether  mechanical,  chemical,  intellectual,  or  moral,  are 
singly  enhanced  by  the  accumulation  of  numbers :  — 
that  is  to  say,  each  part  or  parcel  of  the  mass  is  raised 
to  a  higher  value  or  intensity  when  it  forms  one  of  a 
heap,  than  when  left  to  itself;  it  is  so  that  combustion 
rages  the  more  as  fuel  is  heaped  upon  the  pyre,  and  so 
that  minds  develope  their  fullest  powers,  and  so  that  very 
sedate  sentiments  are  often  exalted  to  the  pitch  of  a  mad 
enthusiasm,  'the  more  complete  and  imm'ediate  is  the 


126 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 


correspondence  of  the  parts,  or  of  the  individuals  one 
with  another,  the  more  will  this  enhancement  of  the  in- 
dividual and  the  combined  force  be  accelerated,  and  the 
further  will  it  go.  The  present  imperfections  of  language 
therefore,  if  on  the  one  hand  they  operate  to  bar  our  ad- 
vancement in  knowledge  and  virtue,  on  the  other,  serve 
to  put  a  check  upon  the  pestilent  circulation  of  vice. 
The  actual  peace  and  purity  of  the  world  are  perhaps 
nearly  as  much  attributable  to  the  shutting  in  of  the 
horrid  secrets  of  the  worst  hearts,  as  to  the  diffusion  of 
the  benign  sentiments  and  happy  affections  of  the  best. 
What  would  human  society  presently  become,  if  the 
mysteries  of  malice  and  impurity  that  are  locked  within 
some  few  bosoms,  were  divulged  to  all,  so  that  all  might 
and  must  catch  the  infection  of  blasphemy,  hatred,  and 
corruption ! 

Now,  although  we  suppose  that,  in  the  future  as  well 
as  in  the  present  state,  communication  shall  be  voluntary, 
and  that  therefore  the  secrets  of  the  heart  may  there,  as 
here,  be  kept  secret ;  yet  we  know  there  is  actually  a 
motive  in  our  nature,  and  a  motive  that  expands  itself 
especially  in  the  most  depraved  minds,  impelling  such, 
with  a  wantonness  of  horrid  vanity,  to  expose  the  ulcers 
of  their  souls  to  the  eyes  of  others.  That  such  an 
ambition  attaches  to  desperate  wickedness,  none  can 
doubt  whose  lot  has  led  them  to  be  much  conversant  with 
the  lost  and  reprobate  of  human  kind.  This  motive 
cannot  fail  to  be  powerfully  excited  by  the  consciousness 
of  an  increased  facility  for  indulging  it.  This  sort  of 
augmentation  attends  all  the  passions  and  desires.  Let 
then  the  very  worst  minds,  herding  with  multitudes 
ready  for  infection,  find  themselves  endowed  with  a 
faculty  —  not  of  dimly,  laboriously,  and  inadequately 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  127 

expressing  intellectual  and  moral  notions,  but  of  vividly 
and  copiously  setting  forth,  as  it  were  upon  the  stall,  the 
rich  abominations  of  their  souls,  and  of  attracting  and  of 
fascinating  all  eyes,  by  the  endless  novelties  of  their 
versatile  wickedness  :  —  let  such  feel  themselves  able 
to  convulse  vast  congregations  with  wo-shaken  bursts 
of  laughter,  by  fresh  and  fresh  exposures  of  infernal  sin  ; 
let  there  be  room  for  this,  and  what  were  such  a  world  ! 
and  yet  in  following  out  this  frightful  supposition,  we 
invent  nothing,  we  assume  nothing  out  of  nature,  or 
which  may  not  be  sustained  as  simply  probable  by 
analogy  of  actual  facts,  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the 
present  state. 

Once  more ;  let  it  be  considered  that,  although  the  ab- 
solute subordination  of  the  corporeal  faculties  to  the  will 
and  purposes  of  the  mind,  and  the  consequent  absence 
of  separate  bodily  interests,  must  be  felt  as  a  high 
advantage,  and  an  incalculable  benefit,  by  those  who 
are  conscious  that  they  are  steadily  pursuing  the  real 
welfare  of  the  spirit,  and  are  pursuing  it  on  the  true  path; 
the  feeling  must  be  the  very  reverse  in  any  case  in 
which  it  is  known  that  these  real  and  permanent  inte- 
rests have  been  desperately  compromised,  and  that  the 
course  upon  which  the  spirit  is  rushing  forward  is  one 
of  madness,  folly,  damage,  and  despair.  In  the  present 
state  we  often  owe  much  of^  the  alleviation  of  mental 
distress  to  the  constantly  recurring  necessity  of  caring 
for  the  body  ;  and  sometimes  even  the  very  sufferings  of 
the  body  gratefully  relieve  the  heart  of  the  otherwise  in- 
cessant burden  of  its  griefs:  there  is  a  diversion,  an  alter- 
nation, and  a  relief,  arising  merely  from  the  shifting  of 
our  cares  and  pains. 


128  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

But  if  the  body  has  no  longer  any  wants,  and  has  no 
separate  welfare  to  be  thought  of;  if  it  be  nothing  but 
the  mind's  passive  instrument,  and  its  medium  of  action 
and  sensation  ;  and  if,  at  the  same  time,  the  mind 
knows  that  it  has  fallen  far  back  from  the  course  of 
hope  and  happiness,  if  its  well-being  has  been  sported 
with,  and  thrown  away,  then  must  a  brooding  melan- 
choly and  remorse  fix  themselves  without  intermission 
upon  the  soul,  and  its  misery  must  become  unmixed. 
Here  again  we  are  not  dreaming  of  things  altogether 
unreal  and  fantastic;  but  are  only  imagining  this  our 
actual  human  nature,  and  our  actual  modes  of  feeling, 
at  work  in  their  accustomed  manner,  under  a  change  of 
circumstances;  and  this  change  too,  such  as  has  a 
rational  connexion  with  the  known  principles  of  the 
intellectual  system. 

Our  conclusion  then  is  (as  stated  at  the  commence- 
ment of  this  digressive  chapter)  that  although  we  may 
reasonably  anticipate  certain  enhancements  of  the  pow- 
ers of  human  nature  to  take  place  in  the  future  stage  of 
its  progress,  yet  that  none  of  those  additions  or  improve- 
ments necessarily  involves  an  increase  of  happiness  ; 
but  on  the  contrary,  is  in  itself  as  likely  to  bring  with  it 
an  intensity  of  suffering.  The  question,  therefore, 
whether  we  are  to  be  MORE  HAPPY  in  another  world, 
than  at  present,  or  less  so,  must  be  determined  by 
reasons  that  are  to  be  sought  for  altogether  from  a  dif- 
ferent quarter.  Any  PHYSICAL  THEORY  of  another  life 
must  leave  this  anxiety  just  where  it  found  it. 


OP    ANOTHER    LIFE.  129 


CHAPTER    XI. 

PROBABLE  POINT  OF  CONTRAST  BETWEEN  THE  ANIMAL 
AND  SPIRITUAL  BODY,  IN  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  THEIR 
CONSTRUCTION  RESPECTIVELY. 

HITHERTO  we  have  adventured  nothing  concerning  the 
exterior  conformation,  or  visible  structure,  of  the  future 
human  body ;  nor  indeed  are  much  disposed  to  do  so, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  not  only  a  subject  of  secondary  import- 
ance in  itself,  but  it  comes  less  within  the  reach  of  rational 
conjecture,  and  is  of  a  kind  likely  to  call  up  the  fantasies 
of  the  imagination.  Nevertheless,  before  we  pass  on, 
let  a  word  be  said  on  this  point:  yet  we  shall  not  stay, 
either  to  defend  or  explain  the  hint  or  two  we  may 
suggest. 

We  assume  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  apparent 
import  of  some  passages  and  phrases  of  scripture  tend 
to  suggest  the  belief  that  the  die  of  human  nature,  as  to 
its  forms  and  figure,  is  to  be  used  again  in  a  new  world. 
Partly  on  the  ground  of  inferences  from  general  princi- 
ples, and  partly  on  the  strength  of  particular  assertions, 
we  suppose  that  the  fair  and  faultless  paradisaical  model 
of  human  beauty  and  majesty,  which  stood  forward  as 
the  most  illustrious  instance  of  creative  wisdom  —  the 
bright  gem  of  the  visible  world  —  this  form  too,  which 
has  been  borne  and  consecrated  by  incarnate  deity —  that 
it  shall  at  length  regain  its  forfeited  honours,  and  once 
more  be  pronounced  "very  good ;"  so  good  as  to  forbid 
1-2 


130  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

its  being  superseded ;  on  the  contrary,  that  it  shall  be 
reinstated,  and  allowed,  after  its  long  degradation,  to 
enjoy  its  birthright  of  immortality. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  inspired  writers  put  a  dis- 
paragement upon  those  adventitious  recommendations 
of  the  person  to  which,  in  our  fondness  and  folly,  we  are 
prone  to  attach  an  inordinate  importance.  Neverthe- 
less, while  they  do  so,  they  are  far  from  using  the  style 
of  cynics  or  of  stoics;  much  less  do  they,  like  the 
atheist,  throw  contempt  upon  human  nature,  or  spurn 
the  conditions  of  the  animal  and  social  economy,  or  pride 
themselves,  like  the  mystic,  upon  a  sovereign  disdain 
of  all  ordinary  motives  and  affections.  Nothing  of  this 
sort  do  we  meet  with  in  the  scriptures  :  oh  the  contrary, 
not  merely  the  prophets  and  poets  of  the  old  testament, 
but  our  Lord  and  his  apostles,  uniformly  treat  with  a 
grave  respect  whatever  is  part  and  parcel  of  human 
nature  ; — a  respect  well  becoming  devout  minds,  which 
are  apt  to  discern,  and  prepared  to  reverence,  the  Cre- 
ator in  all  his  works.  From  the  general  tone  of  inspired 
persons  we  might  gather  the  opinion  that,  in  speaking  of 
the  human  body,  they,  with  a  prophetic  eye,  beheld  it  as 
destined  to  a  new  and  permanent  glory,  and  as  intended 
to  stand  as  the  image  of  God,  freed  from  distortions 
and  blemishes,  and  exempt  from  decay. 

So  plastic  are  all  materials  under  the  hand  of  infinite 
intelligence,  and  so  susceptible  are  natural  forms  of  ac- 
commodation to  two  or  more  purposes,  and  so  much 
does  the  unexhausted  skill  of  the  Creator  delight  to  show 
its  copious  resources,  that  we  may  readily  believe  the 
human  body  to  have  been  so  planned,  from  the  first,  as 
that  its  form  might  take  on  to  another,  and  a  different  in- 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  131 

ternal  economy.  That  is  to  say  —  while  the  uses  of 
internal  parts,  and  the  functions  of  the  viscera  may  be 
changed,  yet  it  will  be  so  as  that  the  new  functions  and 
uses  of  parts  shall,  without  damage  or  waste,  work  in 
with  the  original  contour  and  symmetry  of  the  form.  In 
this  manner,  not  only  shall  the  first  design  of  the  Creator 
be  honoured,  but  the  momentous  early  history  of  man 
upon  earth  shall  be  visibly  kept  in  mind,  by  the  perpe- 
tuity of  the  form  under  which  its  events  were  transacted; 
and  so  too,  shall  there  be  continued  a  vivid  recollection 
of  personal  identity,  and  individual  character.  On  this 
supposition  the  human  form,  whatever  splendours  may 
invest  it,  or  whatever  energies  it  may  exercise,  will  carry 
forward,  through  ages,  a  memento  of  that  first  stage 
of  life,  whence  fortunes  so  high  have  sprung;  in  like 
manner  (to  compare  great  things  with  small)  as  ancient 
houses  preserve,  in  their  bearings,  the  symbols  of  the 
achievements  by  which  the  founder  of  the  family  won 
his  honours  and  lands. 

But  let  all  this  be  as  it  may,  meantime  there  is  little 
hazard  in  stating  the  probability  that,  whatever  is  to  be 
the  type  of  the  future  corporeity,  it  shall  not  exhibit  less 
of  divine  skill  and  benignity  than  does  our  present  ani- 
mal organization ;  rather,  as  it  may  well  be  supposed, 
this  advance  in  the  scale  of  being  shall  be  marked  by  a 
corresponding  higher  excellence  of  the  mechanism  that 
sustains  it ;  and  we  may  believe  that  the  frame  which  is 
to  exult  over  death  shall  be  even  more  wonderfully  con- 
structed than  the  one  over  which  death  had  triumphed. 
Shall  not  the  very  elements  of  that  immortal  body  be 
more  plastic,  more  refined,  and  more  readily  assimilated 
to  mind ;  so  that  no  contrarieties  will  have  to  be  recon- 


132  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

ciled,  no  repugnancies  to  be  overcome,  and  no  compro- 
mise to  be  made  1 


There  is  however  a  probable  point  of  contrast  in  the 
construction  of  the  present  and  the  future  body,  which 
deserves  to  be  noticed ;  and  it  may  be  thus  explained. 
The  admirable  contrivances  involved  in  animal  and  ve- 
getable organization  may  properly  be  considered  under 
two  aspects,  that  is  to  say,  first,  as  consisting  in  the 
adaptation  of  the  general  properties  and  affinities  of  the 
material  world,  to  the  purposes  of  life  ;  and  secondly,  in 
the  adaptation,  one  to  another,  of  the  several  members, 
organs,  and  viscera  of  the  plant  or  animalr  so  as  to  educe 
from  those  elementary  principles  the  intended  result. 
For  example,  in  the  economy  of  a  plant,  there  is  first  to 
be  noticed,  the  CHEMICAL  and  invisible  process,  through 
the  course  of  which  light,  heat,  moisture,  electricity, 
oxygen,  azote,  carbon,  and  the  various  metallic  and  sa- 
line substances  furnished  by  the  soil,  are  compounded, 
in  modes  inimitable  by  human  art,  for  the  production  of 
the  several  specific  vegetable  substances  —  the  wood, 
the  resins,  the  sap,  the  sugar,  and  the  rest.  But  then, 
in  the  next  place,  there  is  the  MECHANICAL  adjustment 
of  parts,  as  seen  in  the  root,  and  stem,  and  leaves ;  in 
the  vessels,  the  absorbents,  the  expirents,  the  flower,  the 
fruit,  the  seed.  And  the  same  distinction  is  observable 
in  the  animal  system  ;  that  is  to  say,  there  is  the  secret 
process  with  the  elementary  principles  ;  and  there  is  the 
visible  mechanical  apparatus. 

Now  in  some  beings  the  principles  may  be  few  and 
the  process  simple,  while  the  mechanism  is  complex  and 
the  parts  intricate  and  many.  Or  in  other  beings,  on 
the  contrary,  the  principles  may  be  various,  and  their 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  133 

interaction  highly  refined,  while  the  mechanism  is  of  the 
simplest  kind ;  and  then  it  is  easy  to  conceiv.e  of  great 
diversities  in  the  relative  complexity  of  these  two  classes 
of  contrivances;  —  as  for  example,  in  one  instance  there 
may  be  an  elaborate  structure,  and  few  elementary  prin- 
ciples ;  in  another,  a  harmony  of  a  thousand  elements, 
effected  upon  an  organization  that  might  be  understood 
at  a  glance.     If  an  illustration  of  this  distinction  were 
needed,  we  might  refer  to  certain  products  of  human  in- 
genuity, and  perhaps  should  not  find  a  better  than  that 
furnished  by  the  chronometer,  or  by  a  musical  automa- 
ton, in  both  which  a  very  few  of  the  principles  or  proper- 
ties of  matter  are  wrought  upon;   namely,  gravitation, 
elasticity,  momentum,  friction,  vibration ;  and  these  few 
are  all  of  one  class,  and  might  perhaps  be  reduced  to 
two ;  while  the  parts  of  the  mechanism,  and  the  adjust- 
ments which  are  to  produce  the  required  regularity  of 
movement,  are  so  numerous,  so  refined,  and  so  compli- 
cated, as  to  render  either  of  those  pieces  of  workman- 
ship a  wonder  of  skill,  science,  and  practical  ingenuity, 
and  of  manipulative  execution.     On  the  other  hand,  an 
achromatic  lens  presents  an  instance  of  almost  the  sim- 
plest possible  structure,  and  of  the  absence  of  any  thing 
that  can  be  called  mechanism,  or  complication  of  parts; 
and  yet  this  mere  adaptation  of  two  crystal  discs,  the 
one  to  the  other,  which  may  be  understood  at  a  glance 
(while  the  chronometer,  or  the  automaton,  might  long 
perplex  even  an  intelligent  eye)  involves,  and  brings  into 
combined  operation,  not  merely  certain  abstruse  mathe- 
matical principles,  but  several  of  the  mechanical  proper- 
ties of  matter,  together  with  the  laws  of  light,  and  the 
specific  qualities  of  particular  substances.     In  fact,  al- 
most the  round  of  our  modern  sciences  is  implicated, 
12* 


134  PHYSICALTHEORY 

directly  or  remotely,  in  the  construction  and  use  of  an 
achromatic  lens. 

Now  to  apply  the  distinction,  as  above  explained,  to 
our  immediate  purpose,  we  assume  the  probability  that 
the  contrast  between  the  present  animal  body,  and  the 
future  spiritual  body,  or  between  terrestrial  and  celestial 
orders,  will  be  found  to  bear  an  analogy  to  the  difference, 
for  example,  between  the  chronometer  and  the  achroma- 
tic lens  ;  so  that  while  the  animal  organization  of  the 
present  human  body,  although  in  fact  it  combines  many 
principles,  and  brings  into  concert  many  powers,  yet  ex- 
eites  our  admiration  mainly  on  account  of  the  complexity 
of  its  parts,  the  delicacy  of  its  visible  construction,  and 
the  elaborate  adaptation  of  function  to  function  ;  on  the 
contrary,  the  spiritual  body  shall  (perhaps)  be  absolutely 
homogeneous  in  its  elements,  perfectly  simple  in  its  con- 
struction, and  uniform  in  its  structure  ;  —  a  pure,  undi- 
versified,  uncompounded  corporeity.  Nevertheless,  by 
a  wonderful  adaptation  of  its  principles,  it  shall  stand  ac- 
tively related  to  all,  or  almost  all  the  powers  and  proper- 
ties, as  well  of  the  material  as  of  the  immaterial  universe; 
and  shall  offer  an  epitome  of  all  being;  —  passively  sen- 
sible of  all  qualities,  potent  toward  all ;  —  the  mirror  of 
whatever  exists,  and  an  apt  agent  in  every  sort  of  move- 
ment. 

In  a  structure,  such  as  we  here  imagine,  it  would  be 
the  harmony  of  principles,  instead  of  the  complexity  of 
parts,  that  would  display  the  infinite  resources  of  the 
Creative  Intelligence  ;  and  moreover,  a  structure  of  this 
sort  would  leave  human  ingenuity  in  the  rear,  even  at  a 
greater  distance  than  do  the  terrestrial  organizations  at 
present  known  to  us  ;  for  while  the  skill  of  man  goes  far 
in  effecting  delicate  and  complicated  pieces  of  median- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  135 

ism,  it  soon  reaches  its  ultimate  point  in  attempting  to 
harmonize  various  principles,  within  the  limits  of  a  sim- 
ple structure ;  nor  in  fact  is  it  easy  to  name  more  than 
two  or  three  signal  examples  of  this  kind  in  the  whole 
range  of  the  arts. 

The  above-mentioned  hypothesis  of  a  simple  con- 
struction of  multifarious  principles,  plainly  implies,  if  not 
a  higher  exertion,  yet  a  fuller  display  of  intelligence  than 
is  afforded  by  an  elaborate  construction  of  few  principles. 
Or  perhaps  the  difference  in  this  respect  should  be  thus 
stated,  that,  in  the  former  case,  the  Contriving  Mind 
starts  from  a  higher  point,  inasmuch  as  there  is  presu- 
med a  preparatory  adaptation  of  the  first  elements  of  the 
material  and  spiritual  systems ;  and  this  species  of  skill 
supposes  an  absolute  knowledge  of,  and  command  over, 
not  only  all  things  actual,  but  all  things  possible.  Man 
fails  in  his  attempts  of  this  sort,  because  he  has  no  com- 
mand whatever  over  things  that  might  be,  but  are  not ; 
and  only  a  limitted  and  glimmering  knowledge  of  unreal, 
abstract,  or  possible  existence.  What  he  finds  ready  to 
his  hand,  he  can  recombine  ;  and  here  he  stops  ;  but  the 
Creator  has  devised  all  elements,  material  and  immate- 
rial, so  as  at  once  to  admit  of  certain  combinations  of 
them,  and  to  provide  for  every  possible  combination 
which  the  ultimate  and  far  remote  purposes  of  his  uni- 
versal government  may  at  any  time  require.  Our  hypo- 
thesis is  then,  that  the  spiritual  body,  arid  the  future  mode 
of  human  existence,  shall  give  evidence  (not  so  clearly 
given  in  the  present  world)  of  an  absolute  supremacy  in 
relation  to  the  primary  laws  of  the  creation,  such  as  af- 
fords room  for  highly  complex  adaptations  of  elements 
and  principles  within  the  simplest  structures. 


136  PHYSICAL     THEORY 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  TRANSITION  OF  HUMAN  NATURE  FROM  ANIMAL 
TO  SPIRITUAL  CORPOREITY,  A  NATURAL,  NOT  A  MI- 
RACULOUS EVENT. 

THERE  may  be,  as  in  fact  we  assume  that  there  are, 
the  strongest  physical  reasons  for  expecting  a  new  and 
an  expanded  life,  as  intended  for  the  human  family. 
Innumerable  analogies  gathered  from  the  processes  of 
the  vegetable  and  animal  world,  illustrate,  and  in  a 
sense,  corroborate  this  expectation;  while  the  irresistible 
impulses  and  instincts  of  the  human  mind  —  moral  as 
well  as  intellectual,  all  support  it.  Nevertheless,  for 
religious  purposes,  and  for  bearing  the  stress  of  our 
moral  principles,  we  must  always  simply  rely  upon  the 
miraculously  attested  evidence  of  the  inspired  writers. 
Our  faith  and  hope  rest  upon  the  testimony  of  heaven ; 
not  upon  the  soundness  of  philosophical  speculations,  or 
even  demonstrations,  if  such  could  be  obtained.  We 
look  for  another  life,  not  as  theorists,  but  as  believers. 

And  yet  there  is  a  particular,  or  incidental  conse- 
quence, resulting  from  our  receiving  the  knowledge  of 
another  life  through  the  medium  of  miraculously  attested 
revelation,  which  demands  to  be  noticed ;  and  it  is  this, 
that  the  corporeal  renovation  of  human  nature,  which 
may  properly  be  regarded  as  an  established  part  of  the 
great  order  of  the  material  and  sentient  universe,  or  as  a 
NATURAL  TRANSITION,  comes  to  be  associated  in  our 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  137 

minds  with  religious  ideas  only,  and  so  to  share  the  fate 
of  a  class  of  impressions  which,  alas !  with  most  men 
are  not  the  most  constant  or  substantial. 

The  inspired  writers  have  a  definite  commission  to 
execute,  a  special  purpose  in  view,  and  an  extraordinary 
dispensation  to  carry  forward;  nor  do  they  ever  lose 
sight  of  their  proper  and  peculiar  office  :  —  their  business 
is,  in  whatever  they  announce,  or  relate,  and  whether  it 
be  in  itself  natural  or  supernatural,  ordinary  or  otherwise, 
to  fix  the  attention  of  men  upon  the  divine  agency,  to 
which  they  always  give  a  prominence  that  nearly  puts 
out  of  view  second  causes.  Mankind  looks  with  eager- 
ness to  that  which  is  visible  and  proximate ;  but  the 
ministers  of  heaven  demand  devout  regard  to  be  paid  to 
that  which  is  invisible,  and  although  remote,  yet  princi- 
pal. God  is  the  source  of  all  things,  and  the  disposer 
of  all ;  and  he  is  so  alike  of  what  follows  a  known  and 
common  course,  as  of  what  breaks  in  upon  that  course. 
The  inspired  writers  have  but  one  language,  the  lan- 
guage of  piety,  for  events  of  whatever  order ;  hence  it 
is  that  the  terms  and  style  of  a  supernatural  narrative  run 
through  the  account  they  give  of  even  the  most  ordinary 
and  natural  events :  not  that  they  ever  affirm  miracles 
where  there  were  none,  (a  most  unworthy  supposition) 
but  that  they  convey  an  impression,  always  just,  indeed, 
of  the  constant  presence  of  the  divine  power  and  provi- 
dence ;  in  a  word,  they  write  and  speak  as  "seeing  him 
who  is  invisible." 

But  there  arises  inevitably,  from  this  mode  of  writing, 
a  degree  of  ambiguity,  or  we  should  rather  say,  a  degree 
of  difficulty,  in  discriminating  between  what  was  strictly 
miraculous,  and  what  simply  natural,  in  the  transactions 
recorded  in  scripture ;  for  when  facts  of  the  latter  kind 


138  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

are  described  as  if  seen  from  the  height  of  heaven,  they 
may  appear  to  have  been  what  they  were  not  —  special 
interpositions  of  omnipotence.  In  truth,  the  ordinary 
and  the  extraordinary  acts  of  the  divine  government  dif- 
fer, rather  relatively,  and  as  they  affect  our  modes  of 
thinking,  than  essentially.  Rigidly  considered,  the 
entrance  of  a  human  being  upon  the  world  in  the  com- 
mon course  of  nature,  is  not  less  really  a  manifestation 
of  the  power  and  providence  of  God,  in  that  single 
instance,  than  is  the  exit  of  a  human  being  from  the 
world  in  a  chariot  of  fire  ;  there  can  be  no  impropriety, 
therefore,  in  referring  the  one  event,  as  well  as  the  other, 
to  its  proper  cause  —  the  power  of  God.  But  yet  when, 
in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  piety,  we  have  thus  ac- 
knowledged the  supreme  agent  in  relation  to  the  ordi- 
nary occurrences  of  life,  or  the  events  that  belong  to 
the  history  of  nations,  it  may  be  necessary,  and  it  is 
useful,  to  distribute  them  into  classes,  as  natural  or 
supernatural ;  and  it  is  the  business  of  the  biblical  expo- 
sitor to  make  this  distinction,  wherever  it  may  be  done, 
in  expounding  the  inspired  histories.  Now  unquestion- 
ably, what  may,  in  this  manner,  be  done  in  relation  to 
the  accounts  of  past  transactions,  may  also  be  done  in 
relation  to  the  predicted  events  that  are  yet  to  mark  the 
destiny  of  the  human  family;  and  it  will  perhaps  be 
found,  in  some  instances,  that  our  own  conviction  of  the 
reality  of  things  future,  or  unseen,  has  suddenly  and 
remarkably  become  more  impressive,  merely  in  conse- 
quence of  our  having  seen  reason  to  think  of  them  as 
natural,  or  as  proper  parts  of  the  established  scheme  of 
the  universe,  instead  of  miraculous  interruptions  of  that 
scheme. 

In  such  instances,  if  such  there  be,   it  is  not  that 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  139 

events  of  the  latter  class  are  abstractedly  less  credible 
than  those  of  the  former;  for  in  relation  to  omnipotence 
the  two  kinds  stand  on  precisely  the  same  level  of  cre- 
dibility ;  but  it  is  merely  that,  from  the  constitution jof 
our  minds,  and  from  our  habits  of  thinking,  we  are  able 
to  bring  the  one  home  to  our  conceptions  in  a  more  vivid 
and  a  calmer  manner  than  we  can  the  other.  Whatever 
be  the  mode  in  which  any  great  change  in  the  physical 
condition  of  man  is  brought  about,  that  is  to  say, 
whether  it  be  in  steady  and  regular  accordance  with  the 
system  of  the  universe,  or  as  a  single  and  unprecedented 
act,  two  things  are  still  true  concerning  it,  namely,  first, 
that  such  a  change  must  spring  from  the  divine  power ; 
and  secondly,  that  if  it  be  future,  and  if  remote  also  from 
our  ordinary  means  of  information,  our  positive  belief  of 
it  must  rest  upon  the  divine  testimony.  These  facts 
established,  and  remembered,  we  are  then  free  to  consi- 
der any  future  signal  event  in  the  history  of  man  in  the 
light  either  of  natural,  or  of  supernatural  causation,  as 
the  reasons  adduced  may  seem  to  demand. 

With  the  daily  and  hourly  miracles  (so  to  call  them)  of 
the  vegetable  and  animal  world  before  our  eyes ;  with  cre- 
ations, renovations,  transitions,  and  transmigrations  innu- 
merable, going  on,  while  yet  individuality  and  identity 
are  preserved,  nothing  ought  to  be  thought  incredible  or 
unlikely  concerning  the  destiny  of  man  which  comports 
with  these  common  wonders,  and  which  in  itself  is  only 
an  analogous  transformation.  No  prejudice  of  the  vul- 
gar can  be  more  unphilosophical  than  is  that  which 
would  obstruct,  for  a  moment,  our  acquiescence  in  the 
belief  of  a  future  transfusion  of  human  nature,  with  its 
individuality,  into  a  new  and  more  refined  corporeal 


140  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

structure.  The  profound  resources  of  the  divine  intelli- 
gence are  constantly  being  developed  in  our  view,  not 
in  a  thousand  modes  merely,  but  in  a  hundred  thousand  5 
and  it  is  perfectly  manifest  that  this  Sovereign  Intelli- 
gence —  master  of  whatever  is  abstractedly  possible,  de- 
lights in  taking  the  utmost  range  of  diversity,  not  merely 
as  to  fashion,  but  as  to  rule  and  condition,  and  as  to  his- 
tory and  circumstance ;  and  if  so  low  a  mode  of  speaking 
were  tolerable,  one  might  say,  the  probabilities  that  man, 
the  chief  terrestrial  animal,  and  an  animal  of  so  complex 
a  constitution,  is  destined  to  undergo  several  transitions, 
are  as  a  thousand  to  one  of  the  contrary.  Every  thing 
belonging  to  human  nature  is  mysterious ;  or  rather, 
bespeaks  the  existence  of  powers  and  instincts  undeve- 
loped, and  which,  though  they  just  indicate  their  pre- 
sence, do  not  reach  their  apparent  end. 

It  is  true  indeed  that  many  species  of  animals  fulfil 
(so  far  as  we  know)  the  law  of  their  existence,  and  reach 
their  highest  excellence,  under  one  form  of  life  ;  and  then 
die,  as  they  are  born,  with  no  other  difference  than  what 
belongs  to  the  changes  involved  in  growth  and  decay. 
But  then  none  of  these  species  offer,  in  their  organiza- 
tion, any  indications  of  incompleteness,  or  show  the  la- 
tent types  of  an  expected  metamorphosis  ;  whereas  in 
every  case  where  a  transition  from  one  mode  of  life  to 
another  is  to  take  place,  the  germs  of  the  future  being 
are  wrapped  in  the  organization  of  the  present  being; 
and  in  every  such  instance  a  well  practised  naturalist,  in 
examining  it  (supposing  it  to  have  been  hitherto  unknown 
to  him)  during  its  initial  stage,  would,  without  hesitation, 
announce  it  to  have  in  prospect  another  and  a  higher 
mode  of  life ;  for  he  would  discern  within,  or  upon  it, 
the  symbols  of  its  destined  progression,  and  he  would 
find  in  its  habits  certain  instincts  that  have  reference  to  a 


OFANOTHERLIFE. 

more  perfect  manner  of  existence.  Now  is  it  so  with 
man  ?  We  have  already  taken  this  for  granted,  and  the 
theme  is  one  that  has  often  been  touched,  and  is  not  a 
necessary  part  of  our  argument,  inasmuch  as  the  task  we 
have  chosen  is  not  that  of  proving  the  truth  of  the  doc- 
trine of  a  future  life,  but  that  of  following  some  probable 
conjectures  concerning  it,  taken  as  true,  on  the  authority 
of  the  Christian  writings.  Nevertheless  a  word  or  two 
may  be  allowed  on  the  subject  before  we  pass  on. 

The  proposition  then  which  we  assume  is  this,  that 
the  rational  and  moral  consciousness,  with  the  various 
faculties  therein  comprised,  is  to  survive  the  decomposi- 
tion of  the  animal  structure,  and  is  to  attach  itself  to  a 
new  and  more  refined  structure.  Of  course,  therefore,  it 
is  not  to  the  animal  organization  that  we  are  to  look,  as 
if  to  find  there  the  symbols  of  a  metamorphosis,  or  the 
germs  of  another  type  of  life ;  for  the  animal  is  to  ac- 
complish its  purposes  in  the  present  initial  era  of  human 
existence,  and,  like  other  intransitive  species,  it  developes 
all  its  parts,  and  falls  into  decay  without  leaving  any  re- 
nascent nucleus.  But  it  is  among  the  moral  sentiments 
and  the  intellectual  faculties,  that  is  to  say,  within  the 
circle  of  the  proper  consciousness  of  the  man,  that  we 
ought  to  find,  if  at  all,  the  indications  of  a  second  birth, 
and  of  a  new  economy  of  life.  Now  all  that  has,  and 
that  may  be  said,  and  it  is  not  a  little,  in  illustration  of 
the  theorem  of  the  immortality  of  man,  as  foreshown  by 
his  moral  sense,  by  his  expectation  of  retribution,  by  his 
aspirations  after  a  better  existence,  by  the  vast  compass 
of  his  faculties,  and  by  his  instinctive  horror  of  annihila- 
tion —  all  these  prognostics  of  futurity,  and  if  there  are 
any  other,  are  capable  of  being  condensed  into  a  single 
proposition,  setting  forth  the  fact  —  a  fact  the  mere 
13 


142  PHYSICALTHEORY 

statement  of  which  contains  virtually  a  demonstrative 
proof  of  the  principle  it  involves,  namely  —  That  the 
idea,  or  the  expectation  of  another  life  is  an  element  of 
human  nature,  or  an  original  article  in  the  physiology  of 
man.  Shall  any  one  deny  that  the  human  family  har- 
bours the  thought  of  living  again  after  death  ?  or  if  any 
one  would  labour  to  show  that  this  common  expectation 
is  groundless,  his  very  argument,  and  the  stress  and  in- 
genuity of  his  reasoning,  affords  the  best  sort  of  evi- 
dence that  the  instinctive  belief  of  immortality  is  too 
general,  and  is  too  deeply  seated  to  be  easily  loosened. 
Now  let  this  mere  fact,  stripped  of  whatever,  by  the 
most  severe  analysis,  we  may  reject  as  eventitious,  be 
coldly  regarded,  in  a  purely  physiological  light ;  and  let  it 
be  put  on  the  ground  of  analogy  with  any  facts  that  may 
seem  naturally  to  comport  with  it;  —  as  for  example, 
with  the  preparations  that  are  made  by  any  of  the  transi- 
tive species  of  animals  (whether  blindly  or  wittingly)  for 
their  approaching  metamorphosis.  If  an  animal  —  an 
insect,  of  the  history  of  which  at  present  we  know  no- 
thing, is  observed,  at  a  certain  season  of  the  year,  to 
abandon  its  usual  haunts,  and  to  turn  away  from  its  won- 
ted enjoyments,  and  to  seek  for  itself  a  crevice,  or  se- 
cure asylum,  fit  for  affording  it  what  it  must  immediately 
need  in  its  new  and  untried  condition  ;  if  it  is  seen  to 
be  employed  in  a  manner  which  has  no  utility  whatever 
in  relation  to  its  present  mode  of  life  ;  —  in  such  a  case, 
we  infer,  without  a  shadow  of  doubt,  that  the  creature  is 
following  a  sure  leading  of  nature  ;  nor  should  we  deem 
any  thing  much  more  unaccountable  or  monstrous,  than 
to  find  that  all  these  forecasting  and  prudential  opera- 
tions came  to  nothing,  and  that  the  deluded  insect,  in- 
stead of  awaking  in  gayety  from  its  transition-torpor,  had 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  143 

utterly  perished,  and  that  its  dust  had  been  irrecovera- 
bly scattered  by  the  winds. 

What  sound  principle  of  philosophy  then  forbids  our 
looking  at  the  human  species  as  the  chief  of  the  terres- 
trial tribes,  and  then  inferring  that  the  sum  of  human  in- 
sects, impressions,  expectations,  and  opinions  (taken  at 
large)  constituting  as  they  do  the  elements  of  our  con- 
stitution, the  parts  of  our  nature,  are  to  be  held  infalli- 
ble indications  of  what  awaits  the  species,  and  as  physi- 
cally prophetic  of  its  destiny  ?  Our  present  argument  is 
reducible  to  a  very  few  words,  or  to  a  syllogism  that 
contains  its  own  demonstration.  Man,  we  affirm,  is  to 
undergo  a  metamorphosis,  and  is  to  pass  on  to  another 
stage  of  existence  —  because,  by  the  constitution  of  his 
mind,  he  expects  to  do  so. 

But  we  are  told  that  it  is  among  the  characteristics  of 
human  nature  to  admit  and  entertain  groundless  opin- 
ions :  and  if  we  should  deny  this,  an  opponent  would 
say  —  "  You  affirm  my  opinion  of  the  futility  of  the  doc- 
trine of  a  future  life  to  be  false  ;  yet  it  is  mine,  and  the 
opinion  too  of  many."  In  reply  we  freely  admit  this  fact, 
and  allow  that  an  adherence  to  baseless  prejudices  is  a 
characteristic  of  human  nature ;  but  we  request  an  im- 
portant distinction  to  be  observed,  which  is  this,  that  al- 
though any  particular  persuasion  may  be  unfounded,  and 
any  single  dogma  false,  and  any  one  chain  of  reasoning 
sophistical,  yet  it  must  by  no  means  be  granted,  either, 
that  the  reasoning  faculty  in  man  is,  in  its  first  principles 
illusive,  or  that  the  abstract  import,  or  condensed  value 
of  human  belief,  can  be  at  variance  with  truth  and  na- 
ture ;  or  that  the  common  instincts  of  the  human  family 
are  nugatory,  and  have  no  end,  or  final  cause.  Suppo- 
sitions such  as  these  are  contradicted  by  the  entire  anal- 


144 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 


ogy  of  the  animated  world ;  as  well  as  that  they  are  ab- 
stractedly improbable  and  repulsive.  Thus  for  exam- 
ple, any  one  of  the  religions  professed  by  particular 
tribes  of  men  may  be  false,  in  whatever  distinguishes  it 
from  other  religions  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  whatever  is  partial 
and  peculiar ;  but  the  religious  instinct,  and  the  abstract 
belief  of  invisible  creative  power,  is  not  false  ;  and  so 
any  specific  expectation  of  what  awaits  us  after  death, 
may  prove  a  dream ;  but  not  so  the  human  expectation 
at  large  of  surviving  the  dissolution  of  the  body.  Those 
sheer  errors  of  which  men  individually,  or  nationally, 
have  become  the  victims,  are  always  of  a  kind  that  may 
be  traced  to  artificial  and  accidental  causes,  such  as  the 
influence  of  interested  impostors,  or  enthusiasts  ;  or  they 
have  sprung  from  the  vanity  and  perversity  of  philoso- 
phers, or  founders  of  sects.  But  on  the  contrary,  the 
common  or  generic  impressions,  expectations,  and  opin- 
ions of  man,  spring  unquestionably  from  the  elements  of 
his  nature,  and  how  much  soever  they  may  be  warped, 
or  exaggerated,  deformed,  repressed,  or  denied,  they  re- 
appear, every  where,  and  in  every  age,  with  unabated 
force,  and  with  very  nearly  the  same  essential  proper- 
ties. These  opinions  and  impressions  must  be  substan- 
tially true,  if  there  be  truth  or  harmony  at  all  in  the 
scheme  of  the  universe.  Among  such  physical  ele- 
ments of  human  nature,  the  prime  is  the  belief  of  an  In- 
telligent First  Cause  ;  and  the  second,  the  belief  of  a  fu- 
ture life,  and  a  retributive  economy.  To  impugn  then 
the  doctrine  of  immortality,  or  of  another  stage  of  exist- 
ence, succeeding  the  present,  is  to  find  a  species,  marked 
in  the  most  distinct  manner  with  the  indications  of  a  fu- 
ture transformation,  and  yet  to  affirm  that  no  transforma- 
tion awaits  it. 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  145 

But  if  a  future  life  awaits  the  human  family,  and  if  it 
be  a  change  involved  in  the  original  constitution  of  our 
nature,  then  it  must  be  allowable  to  speak  of  it,  and  of 
the  means  and  mode  of  the  change,  as  we  might  of  any 
other  part  of  the  scheme  of  the  universe  :  —  yet  always 
with  a  becoming  modesty  and  seriousness ;  and  this,  not- 
withstanding the  special  circumstance  attending  our  be- 
lief of  the  fact,  namely,  that  our  persuasion  of  it  rests 
primarily  upon  evidence  miraculously  conveyed  to  us ; 
and  notwithstanding  the  fact  also,  that  the  renovation  of 
human  nature,  when  brought  about,  shall  be  effected  in  a 
manner  bearing  peculiarly  upon  the  religious  condition 
of  men  as  individually  accountable. 

Every  signal  event,  affecting  the  welfare  either  of 
individuals  or  of  nations,  may,  with  strict  propriety,  be 
viewed,  first  as  a  natural  product  of  common  causes, 
and  then  as  an  act  of  the  divine  government  toward  the 
individual,  or  the  community,  and  as  carrying  with  it  a 
special  meaning,  in  relation  to  the  principles  of  the  great 
spiritual  economy  under  which  mankind  personally,  and 
in  the  aggregate,  are  moving  forward.  Thus  for  an 
instance,  the  first  desolation  of  Jerusalem  was  in  truth, 
what  it  is  represented  to  have  been  by  the  inspired  histo- 
rians and  prophets  —  an  immediate  judgement  of  God 
upon  the  nation's  impiety  and  infatuation,  —  a  judgement 
long  threatened,  and,  in  the  destined  moment,  ac- 
complished. Nevertheless  it  was  the  simply  natural 
consequence,  not  merely  of  the  personal  ambition  of  the 
Babylonish  monarch,  but  of  the  altered  relative  position 
of  nations  within  the  range  of  the  Chaldean  power.  In 
like  manner,  that  visible  display  of  the  divine  displeasure 
which  marked  the  second  desolation  of  the  Jewish  state, 
13* 


146  PHYSICAL-THEORY 

by  the  sword  of  the  Romans,  may,  without  any  diminu- 
tion of  our  religious  sentiments  concerning  it,  be  traced 
as  easily  and  naturally  to  its  proximate  political  causes, 
as  we  so  trace  the  fall  of  any  modern  republic.  And 
what  is  true  and  rational  in  reference  to  things  on  a 
smaller  scale,  is  not  untrue,  or  irrational,  in  relation  to 
things  on  a  larger  scale.  No  principle  of  piety  —  piety 
well  understood,  forbids  our  considering,  under  this  same 
twofold  aspect,  the  desolation  of  the  world  by  the  general 
deluge,  which,  while  it  was  in  the  fullest  sense,  an  out- 
bursting  of  divine  wrath,  provoked  by  the  boundless 
wickedness  of  the  human  race,  was,  at  the  same  time, 
an  event  attributable,  like  an  earthquake,  or  the  eruption 
of  a  volcano,  or  the  inundation  of  a  province,  to  the 
working  of  telluric  forces,  whether  chemical,  mechanical, 
meteorological,  or  sidereal.  If,  from  an  ill-judged  fear 
of  giving  way  to  a  skeptical  temper,  we  refuse  to  enter- 
tain the  physical,  along  with  the  religious  view  of  these, 
and  of  similar  events,  we  expose  ourselves  to  the  danger 
of  being  driven  altogether  from  our  convictions,  by  proof, 
not  to  be  resisted,  of  natural  agency  in  bringing  those 
events  about.  On  the  contrary,  as  well  digested  persua- 
sion of  the  perfect  consistency  of  the  natural  and  the 
spiritual  economies  under  which  we  are  placed,  at  once 
exempts  our  religious  faith  from  all  jeopardy,  and  brings 
our  confidence  in  the  certainty  of  the  divine  promises 
and  threatenings  home  to  the  mind,  with  the  most  im- 
pressive force  and  vividness.  It  is  not  the  lessening, 
but  the  enhancing  of  religious  sentiments  toward  which 
we  are  now  tending. 

In  like  manner,  and  in  adherence  to  the  same  rule,  we 
might  find  our  salutary  apprehension  of  that  second,  and 
yet  more  tremendous  desolation  of  this  our  planet  by  fire, 


%&*&«* 

which  awaits  it,  to  be  suddenly  and  great 
by  our  seeing  reason  to  consider  it  as  a  physica! 
to  which,  from  their  very  constitution,  all  the  planetary 
bodies  are  exposed,  and  which,  under  certain  con- 
junctures, must  inevitably  happen,  and  which  our  own 
planet  is  in  imminent  danger  of.  If  it  be  the  ill  chance 
of  a  family  to  occupy  the  upper  stories  of  a  vast  labora- 
tory, wherein  processes  are  carrying  on,  such  as  would 
want  only  the  slightest  accident  to  produce  an  instanta- 
neous and  fatal  explosion,  such  a  family,  knowing  the 
conditions  of  its  tenancy,  assuredly  should  live  mindful 
of  what  may,  in  any  moment,  be  their  fate. 

The  physical  fortunes  of  our  globe  (let  the  phrase  be 
allowed)  have  already,  as  we  cannot  doubt,  included 
more  than  one  chaotic  convulsion,  and  it  has  undergone, 
if  not  more  than  one  universal  submersion  in  water,  at 
least  one  fusion  by  fire.  It  may  then  include  another 
at  some  period  when,  either  by  a  collision  with  an  erratic 
celestial  body,  or  by  the  gradually  advancing  vehemence 
of  the  central  furnace,  the  pent  up  energy  of  telluric 
combustion  shall  get  vent,  and  becoming  ungovernable, 
shall,  in  the  rage  of  a  day,  or  of  a  month,  leave  nothing 
mundane  undissolved  that,  in  its  nature,  may  be  molten 
by  intensity  of  heat. 

Such  then  being  the  probable  fate  (if  we  may  still 
speak  physically)  of  this  planet,  and  perhaps  of  others  of 
the  system,  it  is  what  we  are  to  be  looking  for ;  and  our 
position  is  like  that  of  the  occupiers  of  the  vine  valleys, 
on  the  trembling  flanks  of  Etna  or  Vesuvius,  whom  we 
may  imagine  to  have  been  informed,  or  to  know  on  some 
rational  grounds,  that,  by  the  slow  but  incessant  enlarge- 
ment of  the  fiery  abyss  beneath  them,  the  entire  crust 


148  P  H  Y  S  I  C  A  L    T  II  E  O  R  Y 

•and  framework  of  the  mountain  must,  within  some 
calculable  period,  fall  in,  and  the  vast  circuit  of  its  base 
be  converted  into  a  sea  of  flame  and  sulphur.  On  just 
such  conditions  does  the  human  family  tread,  from  age 
to  age,  the  soil  of  their  native  planet.  Now  all  this 
which  would  happen,  and  at  the  very  moment  when  it 
shall  happen,  if  there  were  no  rational  and  accountable 
family  upon  the  earth,  shall,  when  it  does  take  place, 
come  in  at  the  destined  hour  to  accomplish  the  special 
intentions  of  the  divine  government  toward  the  de- 
scendants of  Adam.  To  us  men,  it  will  be  in  a  peculiar 
sense,  as  to  all  mundane  creatures,  it  will  be  in  a  com- 
mon sense,  the  terrible  day  of  wrath  —  a  day  not  by  any 
propitiation  to  be  averted. 

It  is  true  that  when  the  present  progress  and  prospects 
of  nations  are  considered,  and  when  the  yet  undeveloped 
powers  of  nature,,  in  several  regions  of  the  earth,  are 
calculated,  a  strong,  or  almost  an  irresistible  persuasion 
is  engendered,  as  if  long  cycles  of  centuries  were  still 
in  reserve  for  the  human  family,  during  which  civilisation 
and  happiness  shall  be  spreading,  until  the  combined 
faculties  of  the  physical  and  moral  world  shall  have 
produced  their  utmost  sum  of  good.  But  then  there  are 
other  considerations  which  may  well  lead  us  to  regard 
such  expectations  as  extremely  fallacious,  and  as  very 
likely  to  be  disappointed.  What  we  see  to  take  place 
on  a  small  scale,  may  certainly  take  place  on  a  larger 
scale  :  as  for  example  ;  —  a  district  of  country,  or  a  few 
acres  only,  is  redeemed  from  the  wilderness,  and  is  just 
beginning  to  reward  the  enterprise  and  ability  of  a  meri- 
torious band  of  settlers ;  and  we  confidently  realize,  in 
idea,  the  wealth,  and  the  thriving  population,  that  within 
a  century  must  cover  it.  But  an  inundation,  or  an 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  149 

earthquake,  lays  waste  the  fair  territory ;  —  its  occupiers 
perish  in  the  catastrophe,  or  are  scattered,  never  to  be 
reassembled  ;  and  the  whole  falls  back  into  its  primeval 
savageness.  What  is  our  planet  but  a  province  of  a  vast 
empire?  and  the  fate  of  a  district,  or  of  a  farm  within  it, 
may  be  the  fate  of  the  whole.  If  a  dyke  bulges,  and 
lets  in  the  ocean;  if  a  fire  consumes  a  factory,  or  a  city  — 
the  crust  of  the  globe  may  bulge,  and  the  central  forces 
of  water,  or  of  fire,  or  of  both  in  conflict,  may  desolate 
all  continents.  None  can  affirm,  while  the  lesser  ca- 
lamity is  matter  of  frequent  occurrence,  that  the  greater 
shall  never  happen. 

Whether  it  is  to  take  place  in  that  same  day  of  telluric 
ruin,  or  not,  (which  is  not  our  present  question)  there  is 
to  be,  and  it  is  to  come  in  as  a  proper  part  of  the  great 
economy  of  the  universe,  a  second  birth  of  the  human 
family,  when  all  born  of  Eve  shall,  by  the  creative 
energy,  live  again ;  and,  whether  for  the  better  or  the 
worse,  individually,  shall  take  their  stand  upon  a  higher 
level  of  physical  existence  than  at  first.  This  transition, 
which  now  we  find  it  so  difficult  to  think  of,  otherwise 
than  with  a  sort  of  incredulous  apprehension,  as  a  myste- 
rious article  of  our  Christian  faith,  shall,  when  it  occurs, 
be  felt,  however  momentous  in  its  consequences,  as  a 
simple  fact,  and  as  forming  a  natural  epoch  in  the  history 
of  man,  whom  we  shall  then  understand  to  be  a  creature 
destined,  from  the  first,  to  metamorphoses,  and  far  ex- 
tended progression. 


150  PHYSICAL     THEORY 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE   SURVIVANCE   OF  INDIVIDUAL    CHARACTER,    AND  OF 
THE    MORAL   CONSCIOUSNESS. 

A  CERTAIN  degree  of  illusion  attaches  to  whatever  is 
future  and  untried ;  and  this  false  colour,  spread  over  our 
prospects,  at  one  time  exaggerates  our  hopes,  and  at  an- 
other, by  reaction,  damps  them.  If  a  future  change  in 
our  condition  be  of  a  very  extensive  and  important  kind, 
we  are  very  apt  to  suppose  that,  even  if  our  conscious- 
ness of  identity  be  not  impaired  by  the  event,  our  ordi- 
nary modes  of  feeling,  and  our  characteristic  sentiments 
and  tastes,  will  none  of  them  remain  the  same.  From 
previously  entertaining  these  delusive  expectations  it 
happens,  when  we  come  actually  to  pass  through  some 
such  important  revolution  of  personal  condition,  that  our 
first  emotions  are  not  so  much  those  of  surprise  at  the 
greatness  of  the  change,  as  of  disappointment  at  the 
small  extent  to  which  it  has  affected  our  usual  sensa- 
tions, and  at  finding  how  little  customary  personal  con- 
sciousness has  been  disturbed.  We  feel  ourselves  pos- 
sessed of  the  same  familiar  self —  of  the  same  pecu- 
liarities of  taste,  and  that  the  very  same  moral  and 
mental  habits  have  passed  on  with  us,  through  the  hour 
of  transition,  from  one  condition  of  life  to  another ;  nor 
can  we  say  that  this  transition,  in  itself,  has  made  us 
more  wise  or  virtuous,  or  that  it  has  enhanced  by  so 
much  as  a  particle,  our  personal  merits ;  although  it  may 


OP     ANOTHER    LIFE.  151 

have  enlarged  our  range  of  action,  and  perhaps  have  ad- 
ded to  our  means  of  enjoyment. 

Now  we  may  reasonably  imagine  that  it  will  be  pre- 
cisely thus  in  the  moment  of  our  passage  from  the  pre- 
sent, to  another  mode  of  existence.  The  several  powers 
of  life  shall  have  become  more  intense  in  their  activity, 
our  consciousness  of  being  will  have  been  expanded ; 
the  faculties  will  no  longer  labour  and  faint  at  their  tasks, 
or  relapse  exhausted :  life  will  burn  clear  and  steady,  and 
will  need  no  replenishing  ;  but  yet  the  inner  man  —  the 
individual  —  the  moral  personality,  will  be  untouched  : 
—  the  remembrance  of  yesterday  and  its  little  history, 
will  be  distinct  and  familiar ;  and  we  shall  come  to  an 
instantaneous  conviction  of  the  momentous  practical 
truth,  that  the  physical  and  the  moral  nature  are  so  tho- 
roughly independent  one  of  the  other,  as  that  the  great- 
est imaginable  revolution  passing  upon  the  former,  shall 
leave  the  latter  simply  what  it  was. 

A  short  season  probably,  will  be  enough  to  impart  to 
us  an  easy  familiarity  with  our  new  home,  a  ready  use  of 
our  corporeal  instruments,  and  a  facility  in  joining  in 
with  the  economy  around  us.  Moreover  it  is  reasonable 
to  believe  that,  whereas,  in  the  present  state,  the  hetero- 
geneous elements  of  mind  and  matter,  as  consorted  within 
the  animal  organization,  are  held  together  as  by  force, 
and  so  as  to  occasion  a  vague  feeling,  coming  over  us  at 
times,  as  if  we  were  dreaming,  or  as  if  our  very  life  were 
an  enigma,  and  as  if  we  were  held  back  from  actual  con- 
tact with  what  is  real  and  substantial ;  —  on  the  con- 
trary, when  the  corporeal  nature  has  become  nothing  else 
than  the  instrument  and  vehicle  of  the  mind,  when  the 
two  elements  of  our  existence  have  come  to  be  perfectly 
blended,  and  when,  as  a  consequence,  our  feelings  are 


152  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

all  of  one  sort,  and  when  our  several  energies  and  im- 
pulses, instead  of  counteracting  one  the  other,  shall  flow 
always  in  the  same  direction,  that  then  there  shall  attend 
us  an  incomparably  more  vivid  sense  of  reality  —  that 
then  we  shall  perceive  all  things  with  a  sharp  intensity, 
and  shall  have  a  bright,  vivid,  consciousness  of  life,  such 
as  shall  make  us  think  of  the  gone-by  period  of  animal 
life,  as  if  indeed  it  had  been  a  dream.  It  is  so  that  a 
man  may  have  groped  his  way,  hour  after  hour,  across  a 
marshy  level,  veiled  in  fogs,  till  he  comes  to  the  foot  of 
a  steep,  where,  after  some  arduous  steps,  he  gains  a 
height,  and  not  only  overlooks  the  mists  of  the  swamp, 
but  beholds  a  wide  illumed  landscape,  and  the  clear  sky, 
and  the  sun. 

At  the  moment  of  recognising  our  personal  conscious- 
ness after  passing  through  the  future  physical  transfor- 
mation, what  we  must  fix  upon  will  unquestionably  be 
our  habitual  emotions,  tastes,  and  moral  dispositions; 
for  it  is  these  that  constitute  the  very  core  of  our  being, 
and  it  is  these  that  must  stand  out,  with  so  much  the 
more  characteristic  distinctness,  when  whatever  that  was 
accidental  and  adjunctive  has  fallen  off  from  us.     All 
merely  animal  sensations  will  have  been  superseded ;  all 
mechanical  and  technical  habits  will  have  lost  their  means 
and  occasions ;  the  intellectual  furniture  will,  for  the  most 
part,  or  perhaps  entirely,  have  given  place  to  knowledge 
of  a  more  direct  and  substantial  kind  ;  but  the  sentiments 
we  have  cherished,  and  the  affections  that  have  settled 
down  upon  the  mind,  and  which  constitute  its  character 
—  these,  now,  with  a  bold  and  prominent  supremacy, 
will  make  up  the  continuity  of  our  consciousness,  and 
compel  us  to  confess  ourselves  the  same.    Much  indeed 
that  belonged  to  our  first  stage  of  existence,  will,  in  the 


OP    ANOTHER    LIFE.  153 

retrospect  appear  shadowy  and  unimportant ;  but  not  so 
any  of  those  events  or  courses  of  conduct  that  shall  be 
found  to  have  created  or  controlled  our  moral  being. 

It  is  plain  that  if  any  species  of  being  is  to  pass  under 
a  renovating  process,  the  process  must  be  of  a  kind 
analogous  to  the  properties  which  are  to  be  so  trans- 
formed ;  thus  for  instance,  it  can  be  nothing  but  a  phy- 
sical power  and  a  series  of  physical  transitions  that  must 
translate  an  animal  from  one  condition  of  organization  to 
another;  and  thus,  too,  it  can  be  nothing  else  but  a  moral 
process,  or  a  working  upon  the  affections  by  motives,  that 
can  effect  a  transition  from  one  moral  condition  to  an- 
other. It  is  indeed  easy  to  admit  the  illusion  that,  if  we 
were  but  translated  to  a  purer  sphere,  and  were  but  ex- 
empted from  certain  evil  influences,  we  should  at  once 
become  virtuous ;  but  a  supposition  such  as  this  will  not 
bear  to  be  examined ;  for  although  external  causes  may 
have  had  a  powerful  influence,  at  first,  in  producing  our 
present  moral  dispositions,  and  so  in  determining  our 
character,  these  dispositions,  when  once  formed,  possess 
a  fixed  continuity  of  their  own,  which  is  by  no  means 
destroyed  merely  by  removing  the  exterior  influences 
whence  they  arose  :  and  moreover,  such  dispositions,  or 
settled  passions,  when  actually  generated  and  consoli- 
dated include  a  reproductive  energy ;  —  they  are  living 
powers ;  they  vegetate,  and  cover  the  entire  surface  of 
the  soul.  The  moral  nature  then,  or  the  personal  cha- 
racter, far  from  being  open  to  renovation  merely  by  the 
means  of  a  physical  transition  from  one  mode  of  life  to 
another,  or  by  a  passage  from  one  system  of  circum- 
stances to  another,  is  not  to  be  rectified,  if  at  all,  other- 
wise than  by  its  coming  under  the  operation  of  congru- 
14  ' 


154  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

ous  influences  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  must  be  wrought  upon 
by  moral  considerations,  and  be  swayed  by  reasons. 

An  instantaneous  change,  either  from  good  to  evil,  or 
from  evil  to  good,  effected  in  a  sovereign  manner  by  a 
foreign  power,  and  effected  irrespectively  of  an  economy 
of  motives,  would  rather  be  the  annihilation  of  one  being, 
and  the  creation  of  another,  than  the  changing  of  the 
character  of  the  same  being  ;  for  it  is  of  the  very  nature 
of  a  change  of  character  that  there  be  an  internal  pro- 
cess, a  concurrence  of  the  will,  and  an  attendant  yielding 
of  the  rational  faculties  to  rational  inducements,  and  also 
the  giving  way  of  one  species  of  desires,  and  of  one  class 
of  habits,  to  another.  While  therefore  it  consists  per- 
fectly with  the  abstract  reason  of  things,  and  with  what 
we  see  around  us  in  nature,  to  expect  that  the  future 
transition  from  the  present  mode  of  existence  to  another 
will  be  effected  immediately  by  the  divine  power,  it  di- 
rectly contradicts,  not  merely  the  reason  of  things  ab- 
stractedly, but  our  actual  knowledge  and  experience  of 
the  principles  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  system,  to 
hope  for  any  such  sovereign  renovation  of  our  disposi- 
tions, as  consequent  upon  an  enlargement  of  our  facul- 
ties, or  upon  a  change  of  scene,  circumstance,  and  so- 
ciety. That  the  Sovereign  Benevolence  may  indeed,  if 
it  pleases,  so  touch  the  springs  of  our  motives  as  to  bring 
about  effectively  a  change  of  character,  is  by  no  means 
to  be  denied  ;  and  indeed  such  an  act  of  grace  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  that  economy  of  mercy  under  which  we  are 
now  placed  ;  but  then  this  exertion  of  spiritual  influence 
always  flows  in  the  channel  of  moral  means  and  induce- 
ments ;  nor  are  we  entitled  to  look  for  it  under  any  other 
conditions  than  those  explicitly  laid  down,  and  solemnly 
insisted  upon  by  the  inspired  writers,  who  strictly  con- 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  155 

fine  our  expectations  of  efficacious  grace  to  the  present 
economy,  and  who,  in  the  tones  of  awful  warning,  an- 
nounce this  to  be  the  day  of  salvation,  and  this  the  ac- 
cepted season  of  mercy. 

A  little  consideration  may  convince  us  that  to  indulge 
an  expectation  of  a  sudden  and  physical  restoration  of 
moral  soundness,  by  a  sovereign  act,  in  the  same  way 
that  we  look  for  a  renovation  of  our  corporeal  faculties, 
must  directly  tend  to  bring  the  mind  into  a  state  in 
which  nothing  less  than  the  most  prodigious  of  all  mira- 
cles could  avail  to  its  restoration.  The  first  principles 
of  a  moral  economy  are  immediately  nullified  when  we 
persuade  ourselves  that  our  moral  nature  does  not  differ 
from  our  animal  organization,  in  relation  to  the  divine 
power,  and  that  the  one,  like  the  other,  might  be  rein- 
stated by  a  word.  The  hope,  well  sustained  as  it  is,  of 
a  happy  and  not  very  remote  renovation  of  our  bodily 
and  intellectual  existence,  and  of  an  entrance  upon  a 
higher  and  wider  field  of  action  and  enjoyment,  does  in- 
deed impart  a  kindling  and  much  needed  energy  to  the 
languishing  principles  of  virtue ;  but  these  very  princi- 
ples, upon  the  force  and  vivacity  of  which  our  future 
welfare  absolutely  depends,  could  only  be  relaxed,  or 
totally  destroyed,  by  our  supposing  that  when  we  wake 
up  in  another  world,  we  shall  find  a  miracle  to  have  been 
wrought  unconsciously  upon  our  tempers,  desires,  and 
affections  —  and  such  a  miricle  as  supersedes  the  morti- 
fying task  of  now  repressing  malign  and  sensual  disposi- 
tions, and  of  cherishing  those  that  are  pure  and  bene- 
volent. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  any  expectation  of  an  im- 
provement of  the  moral  nature,  merely  in  consequence 
of  a  transition  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  stage  of  physical 


156  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

existence,  will  be  found  delusive.  And  yet,  though  we 
must  not  suppose  the  moral  faculties  to  be  renovated  by 
such  a  transition,  we  may  well  believe  that  it  will  give 
scope  to  a  much  increased  intensity  of  all  emotions  and 
affections  of  this  class,  whether  they  be  benign  or  malig- 
nant, pure  or  sordid.  This  probable  enhancement  of 
feeling  in  another  life  deserves  some  attention  ;  for  it  is 
conceivable  that  the  most  profound  or  agitating  sensa- 
tions of  which  we  are  conscious  in  the  present  state, 
may  seem  trivial,  when  they  come  to  be  compared  with 
the  corresponding  passions  arid  affections  of  the  future 
life. 

Every  one  accustomed  to  reflect  upon  the  operations  of 
his  own  mind  must  be  aware  of  a  distinction  between 
the  intellectual  and  the  moral  faculties,  as  to  the  rate  at 
which  they  severally  move ;  for  while  the  reasoning 
power  advances  in  a  manner  that  might  be  likened  to  an 
increase  according  to  the  rule  of  arithmetical  progres- 
sion, and  which  consists  in  the  adding  of  one  proposition 
to  another,  and  in  the  accumulation  of  equal  quantities  ; 
it  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  characteristic  of  the  passions, 
and  of  all  intense  sentiments,  to  rise  with  an  accelerated 
movement,  and  to  increase  at  the  rate  of  a  geometrical 
progression.  Even  the  milder  emotions  of  love  and 
joy,  and  much  more  the  vehement  sensations,  such  as 
hatred,  anger,  jealousy,  revenge,  despair,  tend  always 
toward  this  sort  of  rapid  enhancement,  and  fail  to  do  so 
only  as  they  are  checked,  either  by  a  sense  of  danger* 
connected  with  the  indulgence  of  them,  or  by  feelings  of 
corporeal  exhaustion,  or  by  the  interference  of  the  inci- 
dents and  interests  of  common  life.  Especially  it  is  to 
be  noticed  that  those  of  the  emotions  which  kindle* 


OP    ANOTHER    LIFE.  157 

or  are  kindled  by  the  imagination,  are  liable  to  an 
acceleration  such  as  produces  a  physical  excitement, 
highly  perilous  both  to  mind  and  body,  and  needing  to 
be  speedily  diverted.  And  although  the  purely  moral 
emotions  are  not  accompanied  with  precisely  the  same 
sort  of  corporeal  disturbance,  nevertheless,  when  they 
actually  gain  full  possession  of  the  soul,  they  rapidly  ex- 
haust the  physical  powers,  and  bring  on  a  state  of  torpor, 
or  of  general  indifference. 

Now  this  exhaustion  manifestly  belongs  to  the  animal 
organization ;  nor  can  we  doubt  that,  if  it  were  possible 
to  retain  the  body  in  a  state  of  neutrality,  or  of  perfect 
quiescence,  from  the  first  to  the  last,  during  a  season  of 
profound  emotion,  then  these  same  affections  might  ad- 
vance much  further,  and  become  far  more  intense  than, 
as  it  is,  they  ever  can  or  may.  The  corporeal  limita- 
tion of  the  passions  becomes,  in  truth,  a  matter  of  pain- 
ful consciousness,  whenever  they  rise  to  an  unusual 
height,  or  are  long  continued ;  and  there  takes  place 
then,  within  the  bosom,  an  agony,  partly  animal,  partly 
mental,  and  a  very  uneasy  sense  of  the  inadequateness 
of  our  strongest  emotions  to  the  occasion  that  calls  them 
out.  We  feel,  that  we  cannot  feel  as  we  should  :  emo- 
tions are  frustrate,  and  the  affections  which  should  have 
sprung  upward,  are  detained  in  a  paroxysm  on  earth.  It  is 
thus  with  the  noblest  sentiments,  and  thus  with  profound 
grief;  and  the  malign  and  vindictive  passions  draw 
their  tormenting  force  from  this  very  sense  of  restraint, 
and  they  rend  the  soul  because  they  can  move  it  so  little. 
Does  there  not  arise,  amid  these  convulsions  of  our  na- 
ture, a  tacit  anticipation  of  a  future  state,  in  which  the 
soul  shall  be  able  to  feel,  and  to  take  its  fill  of  emotion? 

Except  among  the  insane,  no  emotions  are  perma- 
14* 


153  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

nent,  or  invariably  uppermost;   but  in  surrendering  a 
powerful  emotion,  or  in  allowing  it  to  be  displaced  by 
interests  and  feeling  of  a  more  common  class,  we  con- 
fess the  present  inferiority  of  our  nature,  which  will  bear 
so  little ;  and  we  silently  console  ourselves  by  the  in- 
stinctive belief  that  a  time  will  come  when  the  passions 
shall  take  their  high  course,  without  pause  or  restraint. 
It  is  with  a  somewhat  analogous  feeling  that,  when  the 
desire  of  knowledge  is  thwarted,  we  remand  this  appetite 
of  the  soul  to  a  future  life.     The  necessities  of  the  body, 
and  its  appetites,  are  the  ruling  powers  of  the  present 
life ;  while  the  passions  and  affections  are  accessories 
only,  which  must  not  have  more  than  their  seasons  of 
indulgence ;    and  they  must  take  a  subordinate  place, 
for  this  very  reason,  that  it  is  their  essence,  if  freely  in- 
dulged, to  absorb  the  soul,  and  to  exclude  every  other 
object  and  pursuit ;  whereas  the  intellectual  tastes  may 
be  made  to  consist  much  better  with  some  regard  to  the 
ordinary  interests  of  life.     Now  this  characteristic  ex- 
clusiveness  of  the  moral  sentiments  and  passions,  ought 
to  be  regarded  as  an  indication  of  that  supremacy  which 
belongs  to  them,  and  which  ultimately  they  must  ac- 
quire.    Those  powers  of  our  nature  which  now  must  be 
repressed,   and  confined  to  moments,  because,  if  let 
loose,  they  would  become  the  masters  of  the  soul,  in  a 
manner  incompatible  with  our  bodily  and  social  welfare, 
will,  we  cannot  doubt,  at  length  reach  their  rightful  as- 
cendency and  give  law  in  an  irresistible  manner  to  the 
active  and  intellectual  faculties.     These  latter  are  but 
means  to  an  end ;  —  the  highest  reason  is  no  more,  and 
the  time  shall  come  when  what  is  instrumental  shall  give 
place  to  what  is  supreme  and  final. 

And  when  the  sovereign  faculties  of  the  soul  —  its  af- 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE.  159 

fections,  shall  have  gained  the  sway  that  belongs  to  them, 
they  will  no  doubt  put  the  instrumental  faculties  into  a 
state  of  much  more  energetic  action  than  they  ever 
reach  at  present,  while  impelled  in  an  inconstant  and 
irregular  manner,  and  often  by  motives  of  an  inferior 
class.  Far  from  supposing  that,  in  a  higher  region, 
where  the  affections  shall  be  more  intense  and  more 
permanent,  nothing  shall  be  done  or  thought  of,  but  to 
indulge  these  profound  sentiments,  or  that  an  invariable, 
inactive,  unproductive  ecstacy,  is  to  fill  the  endless  cir- 
cle of  ages ;  on  the  contrary,  we  assume  it  as  certain 
that  every  active  faculty,  corporeal  and  rational,,  shall 
then  come  into  play  at  a  vastly  enhanced  rate,  and  with 
much  more  fruit  and  advantage*  than  at  present: — the 
impulse  being  greater  and  more  uniform,  the  movement 
shall  be  proportionably  accelerated. 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 


CHAPTER   XIY. 

CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE  PRESENT  AND  THE 
FUTURE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  THE  ACTIVE  PRINCIPLES 
OF  HUMAN  NATURE. 

IF  once  we  relinquish  the  principle  of  analogy,  as  ap- 
plicable to  the  divine  operations  and  government,  we 
abandon  all  means  of  extending  our  knowledge,  and  are 
left  in  a  state  of  distressing  incertitude,  in  relation  to  the 
most  momentous  subjects.  But  if  the  rule  of  analogy 
may  really  be  relied  upon,  and  if  it  be  safe  to  conclude 
that  a  practical  correspondence  of  means  and  ends  con- 
nects the  training  we  are  subjected  to  in  the  present  life, 
with  the  employments  of  the  life  to  come,  and  if  the  pre- 
sent is  indeed  an  education  for  the  future,  then  does  it 
appear  certain  that  an  initiatory  course,  of  which  (when 
it  is  auspiciously  passed  through)  the  product  consists  in 
forming  habits  of  patient  and  strenuous  exertion,  of  order, 
of  self-denial,  and  constancy,  and  in  cherishing  the  spirit 
of  enterprise  and  courage,  and  in  bringing  both  mind  and 
body  into  a  state  in  which  the  utmost  possible  may  be 
done  and  borne  —  we  say  such  a  course  will  be  followed 
by  another  that  shall  demand,  and  bring  into  exercise, 
these  very  same  qualities  and  habits,  and  shall  put  them 
to  work  still  more  intensely.  Can  we  believe  that  the 
precious  and  costly  fruits  of  a  long  and  painful  culture, 
in  the  present  state,  are  to  fall  to  the  earth,  and  perish, 
just  as  they  are  ripened? 


OF      ANOTHER     LIFE.  161 

But  it  may  be  asked,  What  scope  can  there  be  for  the 
exercise  of  the  strenuous  virtues,  or  what  room  for  pa- 
tience, constancy,  courage,  in  a  world  of  peace,  love, 
and  absolute  security?  Now  in  replying  to  this  natural 
inquiry,  it  might  be  allowable  to  sift  a  little  the  evidence 
on  which  our  vague  and  common  notions  of  the  future 
life  are  founded;  and  perhaps  it  might  appear  that  in  this, 
as  in  so  many  other  instances,  the  entire  scriptural  evi- 
dence comprises  some  counterpoised  statements,  from 
a  comparison  of  which,  and  not  from  any  one  portion  of 
it,  our  belief  ought  to  be  derived  ;  but  waiving  any  such 
biblical  investigation,  a  little  attention  to  the  subject  will 
enable  us  to  conceive  of  such  a  substitution  of  one  ope- 
ration of  the  moral  powers,  for  another,  as  may  give  ex- 
ercise to  the  bold  and  arduous  virtues  without  implying 
either  positive  suffering  or  personal  danger.  Let  us 
make  this  attempt  to  conceive  of  what  we  may  call  — 

TRANSMUTED  MORAL   QUALITIES. 

We  may  begin  with  that  main  element  of  terrestrial 
virtue  —  pious  resignation  to  the  divine  will,  and  a  calm 
fortitude,  under  circumstances  of  privation,  disappoint- 
ment, and  suffering.  How  then  can  any  such  habit  of 
the  mind,  together  with  the  sentiments  that  attach  to  it, 
find  place  in  a  region  of  felicity  ?  With  the  view  of  find- 
ing a  satisfactory  (or  at  least  a  sufficient)  solution  of  this 
difficulty,  we  should  ask  ourselves  on  what  ground  it  is 
we  conclude  that  the  principles  of  the  divine  government, 
and  the  actual  administration  of  those  principles,  shall  all 
be  spread  open  to  us,  under  a  full  light,  at  the  moment 
of  our  entrance  upon  the  upper  world  ?  No  such  sup- 
position can  in  fact  be  made  good,  and  on  the  contrary, 
reason  may  be  shown  for  thinking  that  those  practical 
and  temporary  trials  of  our  implicit  confidence  in  the  di- 


162  PHYSIC  A  L     THEORY 

vine  rectitude  and  benevolence,  with  which  here  we  are 
exercised,  are  in  truth,  preparations  for  far  more  difficult 
acts  and  habits  of  silent  reverential  submission,  than  are 
as  yet  called  for.  The  lesson  we  learn  in  surrendering, 
for  instance,  the  darling  joys  of  life,  one  after  another, 
may  seem  a  mere  schooling —  an  unreal  play,  when  we 
come  into  a  position  of  nearer  concernment  with  the  vast 
movements  of  the  divine  government;  and  then,  even  al- 
though we  should  not  be  exposed  to  personal  sufferings 
or  losses,  yet,  with  the  more  intense  sensibilities  belong- 
ing to  a  higher  mode  of  existence,  and  in  view  of  trans- 
actions of  which  here  we  think  little,  or  know  nothing, 
we  may  be  thrown  back  with  force  upon  our  already  ac- 
quired sentiments  of  loyal  and  devout  acquiescence  in 
the  measures  of  absolute  wisdom  and  rectitude,  and  may 
be  compelled  to  confess  that  the  habit  of  mind  which  had 
been  forming  on  earth,  was  far  from  being  superfluous  in 
relation  to  the  events  and  duties  of  our  after  life  in  hea- 
ven. 

A  due  consideration  of  the  essential,  and  therefore  the 
unalterable  disparity  which  separates  finite  and  depend- 
ent minds  from  the  Infinite  Mind,  will  lead  us  to  per- 
ceive that  no  future  advancements,  whatever,  made  by 
the  former,  in  knowledge,  or  goodness,  or  intellectual 
power,  can  in  any  sensible  degree  lessen  the  interval 
between  the  Creator  and  his  creatures,  even  the  most 
exalted  of  them.  It  is  true  indeed  that  a  humble  class 
of  beingi  may  at  length  overtake  and  outstrip  a  higher 
class ;  yet  the  highest  shall  never  feel  themselves  to  be 
approximating  to  the  Supreme  Perfection.  It  is  mathe- 
matically and  metaphysically  certain  that  the  finite  can 
never  measure  the  infinite  ;  and  inasmuch  as  it  does  not 
either  measure  or  grasp  it,  the  symmetry  of  the  infinite 
can  never  be  seen,  or  be  otherwise  than  hypothetically 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  163 

assumed,  or  devoutly  confided  in.  The  attributes  of 
God  must  therefore  always  surpass  the  comprehension 
of  his  creatures  ;  and  if  his  attributes  are  incomprehensi- 
ble, the  acts  too,  which  are  the  products  of.those  attri- 
butes, can  be  but  imperfectly  understood.  At  least  it 
must  happen,  in  certain  critical  conjunctures  of  the  uni- 
versal scheme  of  things,  that  insuperable  difficulties  will 
present  themselves,  and  that,  as  great  epochs  give  place 
one  to  another,  an  abyss  will  open,  into  which  not  the 
most  exalted  minds  can  dare  to  look  with  a  stedfast  gaze, 
and  from  the  brink  of  which  such  will  retire  trembling. 

We  may  indeed  sometimes  have  persuaded  ourselves, 
in  the  fondness  of  speculation,  that  certain  inveterate  dif- 
ficulties are  now  at  last  cleared  up,  and  that  the  scheme 
of  the  moral  universe  lies  all  outspread  before  us,  as  in 
a  map.  But  the  wise  speedily  surrender  any  such  con- 
ceit, and  return  gladly  to  the  only  ground  on  which  either 
men  or  seraphs  can  feel  a  footing  —  the  ground  of  im- 
plicit submission  to  the  Infinite  Nature.  It  is  indeed 
highly  probable  that  the  particular  difficulties  which  em- 
barrass our  speculative  theology,  and  which  now  afflict 
us  by  their  formidable  aspect,  may  utterly  vanish  at  the 
moment  when  we  gain  a  higher  and  more  advantageous 
point  of  view ;  and  we  may  then  wonder  at  the  slender- 
ness  of  those  modes  of  thinking,  which  could  allow  of 
our  being  staggered  in  any  such  manner.  But  then  the 
very  same  moment  in  which  we  clear  the  mists  of  mor- 
tality, the  mysteries  of  heaven  will  open  upon  us ;  and 
these  shall  involve  difficulties  of  a  firmer  texture,  and 
such  as  shall  try  to  the  utmost  the  silent  fortitude  of  the 
soul.  It  is  not  the  vapours  of  earth,  but  it  is  "  thick 
clouds  of  the  sky,"  that  surround  the  throne  of  the  Al- 
mighty. 


164  PHYSICALTHEORY 

Yet  we  must  by  no  means  imagine  that  this  new  call 
upon  the  religious  fortitude  of  loyal  minds  will  induce  a 
comfortless  or  a  distracted  state  of  feeling  ;  for  as,  in  the 
present  state,  that  very  same  spiritual  acquaintance  with 
God,  which  gives  occasion  to  our  perplexities,  supplies 
us  also  with  ample  means  of  holding  them  in  abeyance, 
so  that  they  do  not  smite  the  soul  with  dismay  and  des- 
pair, in  like  manner  doubtless,  shall  still  fuller  discove- 
ries of  the  Supreme  Excellence  and  Goodness  abun- 
dantly sustain  our  confidence,  animate  our  constancy, 
and  give  spring  and  warmth  to  our  communion  with  Him, 
who,  though  "  past  finding  out, "  is  nevertheless  always 
glorious  in  benevolence  and  wisdom.  We  see  it  to  be 
thus,  even  now,  with  the  pious,  who,  although  they  may 
be  exercised  more  and  more  severely,  still  grow,  not 
merely  in  fortitude,  but  in  peace  and  joy.  And  thus  in 
common  life,  the  youth  contemns  the  troubles  of  child- 
hood, and  cheerfully  encounters  the  more  real  difficulties 
of  his  entrance  upon  the  world  ;  and  again  the  man  for- 
gets the  smaller  cares  of  his  youth,  and  bears  up  beneath 
the  multiplied  anxieties  of  ripe  age  :  —  each  new  period, 
in  relieving  us  from  one  burden,  imposes  another,  and  a 
heavier,  and  calls  into  play  whatever  fortitude  we  had 
acquired  in  our  preliminary  course ;  and  yet  does  not 
forbid  our  continued  enjoyment  of  existence. 

Again :  a  passive  fortitude  is  not  the  only  virtue  which 
the  training  we  are  under  tends  to  cherish ;  for  there  is 
a  manifest  purpose  in  the  construction  of  the  moral  and 
social  system,  to  call  forth  the  more  active  excellence  of 
courage,  and  the  spirit  of  enterprise ;  nor  need  we  ex- 
clude (properly  understood)  the  stirring  sentiment  of  am- 
bition. Can  we  doubt  that  He  who,  in  his  word,  is  "  call- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  165 

ing  us  to  glory  and  virtue, "  and  who,  by  the  same  chan- 
nel, enjoins  a  manly  and  vigorous  discharge  of  our  parts, 
is  also,  in  the  actual  circumstances  through  which  we 
are  led,  preparing  the  intellectual  and  moral  powers  for 
what  they  are  to  perform  in  another  sphere.  In  the  case 
of  certain  individuals  this  apparent  purpose  occupies  the 
principal  place  in  the  scheme  of  providence  toward  them. 
It  is  clea/  too  that  the  noblest  and  most  generous  tem- 
pers —  the  very  choicest  minds,  make  the  readiest  pro- 
ficiency in  learning  this  lesson ;  while  mean  and  inert 
souls  —  the  selfish,  the  diffident,  arid  the  pusillanimous, 
although  they  may  acquire  something  of  the  passive  vir- 
tues, almost  totally  fail  in  the  active.  Adhering  then  to 
the  rule  of  analogy,  and  confiding  in  the  principle  that  a 
rational  consistency,  and  an  adaptation  of  means  to  the 
end,  runs  through  the  divine  proceedings,  we  conclude 
that  the  future  life  shall  actually  call  into  exercise  a  bold 
energy,  and  intrepidity,  and  ambition  too ;  —  an  ambi- 
tion not  selfish  or  vain,  but  loyal. 

In  assuming  so  much  as  this,  we  are  by  no  means 
obliged  to  suppose  that  those  who,  in  the  present  state, 
shall  have  gone  through  their  probation,  and  won  immor- 
tal glory,  are  anew  to  become  liable  to  loss,  injury,  or 
jeopardy  of  happiness.  Without  admitting  any  such 
supposition,  we  may  readily  conceive  of  a  state  of  things 
in  which  there  may  be  services  to  be  performed,  enter- 
prises to  be  undertaken,  and  a  promotion  to  be  aimed  at, 
such  as  none  but  the  bold,  and  the  strong,  shall  be  equal 
to,  and  none  but  the  aspiring  dare  to  attempt.  These 
services  may  involve  encounters  with  powerful  and  crafty 
opponents,  or  they  may  demand  sudden  exertions  of  in- 
telligence, and  a  ready  recurrence  to  resources,  under 
circumstances  that  would  amaze  and  baffle  all  but  the 
15 


166  PHYSICALTHEORY 

calmly  courageous.  And  there  may  be  high  advantages 
to  be  snatched  by  the  few  whose  flight  can  be  long  sus- 
tained, and  is  the  most  steady ;  there  may  be  domina- 
tions to  be  exercised  which  those  shall  secure  to  them- 
selves who  can  prove,  by  service  done,  that  they  are 
equal  to  the  weight  of  the  sceptre.  It  is  surely  a  frivo- 
lous notion  (if  any  actually  entertain  it)  that  the  vast  and 
intricate  machinery  of  the  universe,  and  the  profound 
scheme  of  God's  government,  are  now  soon  to  reach  a 
resting  place,  where  nothing  more  shall  remain  to  active 
spirits,  through  an  eternity,  but  recollections  of  labour, 
anthems  of  praise,  and  inert  repose.  No  idea  can  do 
more  violence  to  all  the  principles  on  which  we  reason, 
than  this  does. 

Not  less  unreasonable  is  it  to  imagine  that  the  future 
government  of  God,  instead  of  being  carried  forward,  as 
now,  by  independent  and  intelligent  agencies,  shall  pro- 
ceed by  the  interposition  of  his  immediate  power,  while 
the  creatures  stand  aloof,  as  idle  spectators  of  omnipo- 
tence. Some  such  baring  of  the  arm  of  the  Almighty 
may  indeed  mark  particular  epochs  of  the  moral  system, 
and  may  come  in  to  terminate  one  cycle  of  government, 
and  to  introduce  another ;  but  to  suppose  that  the  ordi- 
nary movements  shall  be  of  this  kind,  is  a  notion  devoid 
of  probability,  and  derogatory,  as  we  must  think,  to  the 
divine  wisdom.  If  the  two  schemes  were  hypothetically 
stated,  namely,  that  of  a  government  by  immediate  in- 
terpositions of  omnipotence,  and  that  of  a  government  the 
ends  of  which  should  be  secured  by  an  all-pervading  ad- 
justment of  the  free  agencies  of  intelligent  beings,  as  well 
good  as  evil,  the  latter  scheme  must  at  once  be  preferred, 
as  the  best  adapted  to  display  infinite  wisdom,  and  so  to 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE. 


167 


compel  all  at  length  to  acknowledge,  and  to  bow  to  the 
Sovereign  Excellence,  which,  out  of  the  refractory  and 
chaotic  materials  of  the  moral  world,  has  educed,  not 
merely  a  precise  and  predetermined  result,  but  a  good 
result,  and  one  worthy  of  wisdom,  rectitude,  and  benev- 
olence. 

It  would  not  be  very  difficult  to  show  in  what  way, 
probably,  every  one  of  the  active  qualities,  moral  and  in- 
tellectual, which  are  now  in  training,  may  come  into  ex- 
ercise within  a  future  system,  even  although  that  system 
should  exclude  the  necessities  and  pains  of  the  present 
state.  All  the  practical  skill  we  acquire  in  managing 
affairs,  all  the  versatility,  the  sagacity,  the  calculation  of 
chances,  the  patience  and  assiduity,  the  promptitude  and 
facility,  as  well  as  the  higher  virtues,  which  we  are  learn- 
ing every  day,  may  well  find  scope  in  a  world  such  as 
is  rationally  anticipated,  when  we  think  of  heaven  as  the 
stage  of  life  that  is  next  to  follow  the  discipline  of  earth. 

Thus  far  we  have  thought  of  the  future  exercise  of  the 
active  virtues,  in  relation  chiefly  to  personal  interests. 
But  if  we  duly  consider  the  force,  and  the  probable  issue 
of  those  intense  emotions  of  good  will  to  others,  and  of 
compassion  toward  the  wretched,  which  are  now  at  work 
within  generous  bosoms,  and  which  yet  are  very  slen- 
derly or  partially  brought  into  play  at  present,  we  shall 
be  impelled  to  think,  nay,  confidently  to  conclude,  that 
these  dispositions  are,  in  this  world,  only  bursting  the 
husk,  and  germinating,  underground,  in  preparation  for 
free  expansion  and  fructification  in  the  beams  of  a  warmer 
sun.  With  no  other  indication  of  the  destinies  of  the  uni- 
verse than  what  may  be  furnished  by  the  swelling  emo- 
tions of  pity  that  are  now  working,  pent  up,  in  tender  and 


163  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

noble  hearts,  we  should  hardly  fear  to  err  in  assuming 
that  a  sphere  will  at  length  open  upon  such  spirits,  wherein 
they  shall  find  millions  needing  to  be  governed,  taught, 
rescued,  and  led  forward,  from  a  worse  to  a  better,  or 
from  a  lower  to  a  higher  stage  of  life. 

With  the  material  universe  before  us,  such  as  we  now 
know  it  to  be  in  extent,  our  conjectures  need  not  be  put 
to  much  difficulty  in  imagining  what  may  be  wanting  to 
fill  out  our  idea  of  a  future  economy,  where,  what  now 
we  so  ardently  long  to  do,  but  are  baffled  in  attempting, 
shall  be  practicable,  and  shall  offer  itself  to  our  hands, 
on  the  largest  scale ;  and  where  the  utmost  which  the 
most  ambitious  charity  could  desire  shall  actually  be 
granted.  In  admitting  suppositions  of  this  kind,  we  are 
not  compelled  to  trench  at  all  upon  any  article  of  our 
Christian  belief,  or  to  bring  into  question  any  of  our  seri- 
ous convictions  concerning  the  firmness  of  the  divine 
administration  of  human  affairs.  All  we  do  is,  on  the 
strength  of  the  principle  of  analogy,  to  conclude  that  a 
preparation  of  feeling,  shall  find  its  expansion  ;  and  that 
a  commencement  of  moral  qualities  shall  have  its  end 
and  completion.  If  the  instinctive  yearnings  of  the  hu- 
man mind  after  immortality,  are  allowed  to  furnish  a 
strong  presumptive  evidence  (revelation  apart)  of  the 
life  to  come,  so  assuredly  must  the  instinctive  and  vehe- 
ment desires  of  the  noblest  minds  to  diffuse  truth  and 
happiness,  and  to  relieve  misery,  be  allowed  to  foreshow 
what  is  actually  to  be  the  employment  of  such  minds. 
If  there  be  any  soundness  in  the  one  sort  of  argument, 
there  must  be  an  equal  force  in  the  other.  For  it  is  quite 
as  easy  to  suppose  that  the  Creator  should  have  impar- 
ted to  human  nature,  the  notion  and  the  desire  of  immor- 
tality, without  intending  to  realise  it,  as  that  he  should 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  169 

have  instilled  a  boundless  benevolence,  which  is  to  have 
no  more  opportunity  to  express  itself  than  it  may  chance 
to  meet  with  in  the  present  state :  and  how  often  are  such 
opportunities  almost  wholly  withheld  !  Some  there  are, 
who  would  barely  care  to  live  at  all,  if  they  may  have  no 
sphere  of  charity,  and  whose  notion  of  substantial  hap- 
piness consists  mainly,  or  entirely,  in  the  idea  of  wide 
and  successful  beneficence. 

We  conclude  then,  first,  that  the  substitution  of  spi- 
ritual for  animal  corporeity,  leaves  the  probabilities  of  in- 
creased happiness  or  misery  evenly  balanced ;  secondly, 
that  the  transition  of  human  nature  from  one  mode  of 
physical  existence  to  another,  shall  not  of  itself  affect  the 
moral  sentiments,  or  personal  character ;  thirdly,  that 
emotions  and  passions,  whether  benign  or  not,  shall  pro- 
bably be  far  more  intense  in  the  future  state,  than  they 
are  at  present ;  and  fourthly,  that  the  active  principles  of 
our  nature,  and  our  intellectual  habits,  such  as  they  are 
now  in  training,  shall,  in  the  future  life,  come  into  actual 
use. 


15* 


1 70  PHYSICAL     THEORY 


CHAPTER  XV. 

INTRODUCTORY  TO  SOME  CONJECTURES  CONCERNING 
THE  CORRELATIVE  CONSTRUCTION,  AND  RECIPROCAL 
DESTINIES  OF  THE  MATERIAL  AND  THE  SPIRITUAL 
UNIVERSE. 

The  above-named  conclusions  bring  our  theory  of 
another  life  to  its  intended  issue,  so  far  as  it  is  to  be 
drawn  from  a  consideration  of  the  present  structure  of 
human  nature,  bodily  and  mental ;  but  it  remains  (if  it 
be  reasonable  and  practicable  to  do  so)  to  pursue  the  in- 
dication of  facts  and  of  analogies,  in  relation  to  the  great 
scheme,  material  and  spiritual,  in  the  midst  of  which 
this  human  nature  is  evolving  its  destinies.  In  other 
words,  we  now  wish  to  give  some  sort  of  hypothetical 
consistency  to  the  several  elements  of  our  conceptions, 
in  thinking  of  a  future  life,  as  related  to  the  theatre  upon 
which  it  is  to  take  its  course. 

Allusion  has  been  made  above  to  the  extent  of  the 
material  universe,  and  to  our  present  knowledge  of  its 
vastness  ;  nor,  perhaps,  is  any  thing  else  possible  in  the 
actual  state  of  astronomical  science,  than  that  we  should 
endeavour,  in  some  manner,  to  connect  our  belief  con- 
cerning the  destinies  of  the  human  family,  with  our  con- 
ceptions and  our  knowledge  of  the  great  system  in  the 
midst  of  which  we  are  moving.  None  need  fear  the 
consequences  of  any  such  endeavours  who  have  well 
learned  the  prime  principle  of  sound  philosophy,  namely, 


OF     AN  OTH  ER     LIFE.  171 

not  to  allow  the  most  plausible  and  pleasing  conjectures 
to  unsettle  our  convictions  of  truths  established  inde- 
pendently, and  resting  upon  positive  evidence.  If  there 
are  any  who  will  frown  upon  all  such  attempts,  as  not 
merely  fruitless,  but  reprehensible  and  dangerous,  they 
would  do  well  to  consider  that,  although  individually, 
and  from  the  constitution  of  their  minds,  they  may  find 
it  very  easy  to  abstain  from  every  path  of  excursive  me- 
ditation, it  is  not  so  with  others,  who  almost  irresistibly 
are  borne  forward  to  the  vast  fields  of  universal  contem- 
plation— a  field  from  which  the  human  mind  is  not  to  be 
barred,  and  which  is  better  taken  possession  of  by  those 
who  reverently  bow  to  the  authority  of  Christianity,  than 
left  open  to  impiety. 

Fully  persuaded  of  the  certainty  and  awful  reality  of 
the  Christian  revelation,  and  prepared,  at  every  turn,  to 
surrender  whatever  can  be  shown  not  to  comport  with 
its  decisions,  and  provided  also  with  those  methods  of 
reasoning,  with  which  the  modern  physical  logic  sup- 
plies us,  we  advance  a  step  or  two,  in  anxious  curiosity, 
to  survey  the  vast  realm  of  the  universal  King,  and  to 
ask  what,  probably,  may  be  the  relation  in  which  we 
stand,  or  are  ultimately  to  stand,  to  our  fellow-subjects 
of  this  unbounded  empire. 

Is  it  really  in  vain  that  the  human  eye  is  permitted  to 
traverse  the  immensity  of  space?  or  is  for  no  high  pur- 
pose, now  at  length,  and  after  five  thousand  years  of 
labour  and  conjecture,  that  a  true  notion  of  the  material 
universe  has  been  attained,  and  has  become  diffused 
among  all  ranks  in  every  civilized  community  ?  At  last 
man  knows  his  place  in  the  heavens,  and  is  taught  to 
think  justly  of  the  relative  importance  of  the  planet 
which  has  given  him  birth.  During  a  long  course  of 


1  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

centuries  it  was  to  little  purpose,  or  to  little  in  relation 
to  man,  that  the  emanations  of  light  had  passed  and  re- 
passed,  from  side  to  side  of  the  universe ;  for  until  of 
late,  that  is  to  say,  the  last  three  or  four  centuries,  it  was 
not  certainly  known  whether  this  earth  (itself  unexplored) 
was  not  the  only  scene  of  life,  and  whether  the  sun,  the 
stars,  and  the  planets  were  any  thing  more  than  brilliants, 
floating  in  the  upper  ether. 

A  revolution  in  the  intellectual  world,  affecting  our 
notions  and  modes  of  thinking  on  many  subjects,  has 
been  gradually  produced  by  the  discoveries,  and  by 
the  full  authentication  of  the  modern  astronomy  ;*  and 
it  may  well  be  conjectured  that  certain  momentous  con- 
sequences of  this  great  advancement  of  science  have 
not  yet  been  developed.  Minds  unfriendly  to  all  reli- 
gion, and  to  Christianity  especially,  confidently  antici- 
pate the  shaking  of  popular  belief  by  this  very  means  ; 
and  it  is  just  possible  that  a  course  of  conduct,  on  the 
part  of  the  champions  of  revelation,  analogous  to  that 
pursued  by  the  Romish  church  toward  the  first  promul- 
gators  of  just  notions  of  the  universe,  might  produce 
very  lamentable  effects  upon  the  religious  convictions  of 
many.  But  that  any  such  course  will  actually  be  adopted 
is  not  to  be  supposed ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  fairly  to  be 
expected  that,  by  the  turning  of  thoughtful  minds,  again 
and  again  to  the  subject,  a  happy  coalescence  of  all 
great  truths,  —  physical  and  religious,  —  will  at  length  be 
brought  about,  and  such  as  shall  tend  powerfully  to  en- 

*  The  eloquent  and  important  Astronomical  Discourses  of  Dr. 
Chalmers  ought  here  to  be  named  as  having  given  both  an  im- 
pulse and  a  direction  to  religious  meditation  in  connexion  with 
subjects  of  this  class. 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE. 

hance  the  serious  influence  of  the  latter,  and  as  s. 
celerate  the  general  prevalence  of  piety  —  the  piety  of 
the  scriptures. 

When  once  religious  principles  have  taken  full  pos- 
session, as  well  of  the  understanding  as  of  the  moral 
faculties,  we  may  with  perfect  tranquillity  pursue  specu- 
lations of  any  kind  that  seem  likely  to  enlarge  our  con- 
ceptions of  the  system  within  which  we  are  moving. 
Such  speculations  can  never  rob  us  of  our  firm  property 
in  the  highest  truths,  or  disturb  our  enjoyment  of  them ; 
but  they  may  serve  to  deepen,  tenfold,  our  ordinary 
impression  of  the  awful  import  of  those  truths.  Chris- 
tianity is  not  endangered,  but  it  may  be  more  forcibly 
impressed  upon  all  minds,  in  consequence  of  the  con- 
verging of  truth  from  all  sides  upon  the  one  practical 
inference,  which  should  impel  us  instantly  to  conclude 
friendship  with  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  all  worlds. 

All  truths  shall  at  length  be  one ;  there  shall  be  one 
philosophy  and  one  religion ;  nor  is  it  difficult  to  trace 
the  actual  progress  of  the  human  mind  toward  this  de- 
sirable consummation.  Would  it  not  be  unbecoming  for 
religious  men  to  attribute  to  chance  those  signal  im- 
provements in  the  mechanic  arts  which  have  given  cer- 
tainty to  modern  astronomy  1  Without  the  aid  of  the 
elaborate  instruments  of  observation,  the  calculations 
and  theories  of  abstract  science  could  never  have  been 
put  to  the  proof  of  a  comparison  with  facts,  and  therefore, 
could  never  have  possessed  the  authority  of  actual  sci- 
ence. Far  from  being  inclined  to  boast  in  these  instances 
of  the  skill  and  sagacity  of  man,  we  devoutly  admire  the 
providence  of  God,  which,  after  long  delays,  has  at 
length  conferred  upon  mankind  the  means  of  obtaining 
a  just,  though  incomplete  knowledge  of  his  vast  domi- 


174  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

nion !  and  we  now  look  with  confidence  for  such  further 
extensions  of  our  philosophy  as  are  needed  for  bringing 
all  our  notions,  from  whatever  source  derived,  into  a 
happy  unison. 

The  moment  chosen  for  giving  Christianity  to  the 
world,  at  first,  was  that  in  which  learning  and  civilisa- 
tion, in  all  kinds,  had  reached  their  highest  point,  and 
were  more  widely  diffused  than  at  any  preceding  time  ; 
nor  is  it  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  the  happy  moment 
predestined  for  the  general  promulgation  and  triumph  of 
this  same  Christianity  shall  be  that  in  which  the  substan- 
tial and  well-ascertained  sciences,  having  passed  their 
season  of  debate  and  conjecture,  shall  be  advancing,  not 
as  heretofore  by  revolutions  and  shocks,  but  by  continual 
accessions,  and  when  having  reached  the  popular  mind, 
all  shall  be  prepared  to  admit,  and  to  feel  the  force  of  the 
great  moral  inference  that  is  yet  to  be  drawn  from  them. 
This  sort  of  coalescence  of  great  principles  is  not  in- 
deed to  be  expected  to  take  place  in  a  moment,  or  as  the 
consequences  of  the  discoveries  or  reasonings  of  any 
one  mind ;  but  it  may  draw  on  by  insensible  means,  and 
be  promoted  by  this,  that,  and  the  other  unnoticed 
agency.  In  expectation  of  it  we  may  be  feeling  our  way 
onward  a  little,  in  advance  of  our  actual  position ;  and 
this  must  be  done  by  entertaining  such  hypotheses  as 
seem  consonant  with  known  facts,  and  which  hypotheses 
will  open  up  untrodden  ground,  and  enable  us  to  improve 
every  new  indication  of  things  as  yet  unknown. 

And  in  this  place  again,  the  author  must  urge  the 
reader  to  bear  constantly  in  mind  what  are,  and  what 
are  not,  the  legitimate  uses  of  hypothesis,  in  philosophi- 
cal pursuits.  An  hypothesis  then,  however  plausible,  is 


OFANOTHER     LIFE.  175 

never  to  be  ranged  along  with  truths ;  or  classed  with 
things  well  proved  ;  or  suffered  to  fill  a  vacuity  in  our 
systems  until  it  may  be  displaced  by  a  better  theory,  or 
by  ascertained  facts.  This  was  the  illusive  practice  of 
the  ancient  theorists ;  but  it  is  now  exploded.  Hypo- 
thesis is  a  preparation  for  reasoning  —  a  preparation 
which  shall  save  time,  and  prevent  the  overlooking  of 
any  facts  that  may  hereafter  present  themselves,  and 
which,  should  they  occur,  will  instantly  be  noted  and 
turned  to  the  best  account,  as  tending  either  to  confirm, 
or  to  explode  the  supposition  already  advanced.  To  use 
a  familiar  illustration,  well-devised  hypotheses  are  label- 
led drawers,  always  ready  for  the  reception  of  facts  for- 
tuitously presented.  In  those  branches  of  science  which 
are  open  to  experiment,  it  is  hypothesis  that  leads  the 
way  in  every  instance. 

In  relation  to  our  immediate  subject,  namely,  the 
connexion  between  the  scheme  of  the  material  universe, 
and  the  destinies  of  the  human,  and  of  other  rational 
orders,  it  may  be  stated  as  possible  that  some  of  those 
revolutions  and  catastrophes  which  have  actually,  and 
frequently,  in  the  course  of  ages,  been  observed  to  take 
place  in  the  remoter  regions  of  the  heavens,  such  as  the 
sudden  combustion  of  stars,  and  their  extinction,  or  the 
appearance  of  new  stars,  may,  any  day,  take  place 
nearer  home,  and  within  such  distances  as  should  allow 
of  their  being  distinctly  observed.  Now,  on  the  sup- 
position of  such  an  event,  it  is  possible  that  new  views 
of  the  constitution  and  destinies  of  the  universe  might 
be  thereby  suggested ;  and  in  that  case,  the  having 
entertained  more  than  one  hypothesis  on  the  subject, 
would  be  a  preparation  for  turning  the  actual  facts  to 


173  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

the  best  account;  and  would  also  quicken  and  animate 
our  observations. 

There  are  two  facts,  each  of  which  is  significant  in 
relation  to  our  present  subject,  and  of  which  the  first 
has  long  been  understood,  while  the  latter,  (only  of  late 
ascertained)  is  every  day  receiving  new  illustrations, 
namely,  That  our  planet  is,  in  no  sense,  of  primary 
importance  in  the  general  system,  or  entitled,  by  its 
magnitude,  or  its  position,  or  its  constitution,  to  be  con- 
sidered as  exerting  any  peculiar  influence  over  others; 
or  as  the  object  of  more  regard  than  any  others.  This 
knowledge  of  our  real  place  and  value  in  the  universe  is 
a  very  important  consequence  of  our  modern  astronomy, 
and  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  any  of  our  specula- 
tions. But  then  it  is  also  now  ascertained  that  the 
great  laws  of  our  own  planet,  and  of  the  solar  system 
to  which  it  belongs,  prevail  in  all  other  and  the  most 
remote  systems,  so  as  to  make  the  visible  universe,  in 
the  strictest  sense,  ONE  SYSTEM  —  indicating  one  origin, 
and  showing  the  presence  of  one  Controlling  Power. 
Thus  the  law  of  gravitation,  with  all  the  conditions  it 
implies,  and  the  laws  of  light,  are  demonstrated  to  be  in 
operation  in  regions  incalculably  remote;  and  just  so 
far  as  the  physical  constitution  of  the  other  planets  of 
our  system  can  be  either  traced,  or  reasonably  conjec- 
tured, it  appears  that,  amid  great  diversities  of  constitu- 
tion, the  same  great  principles  prevail  in  all ;  and  there- 
fore our  further  conjecture,  concerning  the  existence  of 
sentient  and  rational  life,  in  other  worlds,  is  borne  out 
by  every  sort  of  analogy,  abstract  and  physical;  and 
this  same  rule  of  analogy  impels  us  to  suppose  that 
rational  and  moral  agents,  in  whatever  world  found,  and 


OF    ANOTHER     LIFE. 


177 


whatever  diversity  of  form  may  distinguish  them,  would 
be  such  that  we  should  soon  feel  ourselves  at  home  in 
their  society,  and  able  to  confer  with  them  —  to  com- 
municate knowledge  to  them,  and  to  receive  knowledge 
from  them.  Neither  truth  nor  virtue  is  local ;  nor  can 
there  be  wisdom  and  goodness  in  one  planet  which  is 
not  wisdom  and  goodness  in  every  other. 

We  must  believe  that  rational  and  moral  intercourse 
would  be  practicable,  where  physical  correspondence 
might  be  impossible;  for  while  our  animal  organization 
demands  a  specific  temperament  of  the  elements,  and 
can  act  only  within  a  narrow  circle,  the  intellectual 
faculties,  on  the  contrary,  and  the  moral  emotions,  are 
capable  of  adapting  themselves  to  every  imaginable 
variety  of  circumstance,  and  can  always  embrace  and 
coalesce  with  universal  principles.  Hence  it  might 
well  happen  that,  in  worlds  where  we  could  neither 
respire,  nor  stand  upright,  nor  endure  the  heat,  or 
the  cold,  in  worlds  where  our  bodies  would  instantly 
congeal,  or  would  as  suddenly  be  evaporized,  we 
might  yet,  if  freed  from  these  organic  difficulties,  make 
ourselves  one  with  the  rational  tribes  of  those  worlds. 
For  the  purpose  therefore  of  bringing  all  such  tribes 
into  correspondence,  and  of  blending  them  in  a  social 
economy,  nothing  would  be  necessary  but  to  give  them 
severally  a  corporeal  constitution  independent  of  tel- 
luric peculiarities  of  temperature,  density,  and  atmos- 
pheric influence. 

Our  involuntary  impression  that  other  worlds  differ 
vastly  from  our  own,  in  the  modes  of  life  they  contain, 
is  so  strong  that,  perhaps,  if  transported  to  some  neigh- 
bouring planet,  we  should  feel  far  more  amazement  in 
meeting  there  with  beings  precisely  like  ourselves,  than 
16 


178  PHYSICALTHEORY 

in  encountering  the  strangest  and  most  grotesque  forms 
that  can  be  dreamed  of.  Yet,  whether  brethren  in 
figure  and  countenance,  or  not,  it  is  not  possible  to 
doubt  that  all,  in  all  worlds  who  are  capable  of  reason, 
and  are  open  to  moral  affections,  are  tending,  though  at 
different  rates,  toward  the  same  eternal  truths,  and  are 
made  amenable  to  one  law,  and  one  principle  of  gov- 
ernment. 

But  shall  not  those  who  are  brethren,  some  day  come 
to  be  companions ;  or  at  least  to  know  of  each  other's 
existence  and  well-being?  Many  reasons  may  be  ad- 
duced strongly  tending  to  suggest  the  belief  that  all 
races,  holding  to  the  same  principles  of  reason  and 
virtue,  shall  at  some,  perhaps  remote  era  of  their  exis- 
tence, be  brought  to  compare  histories,  and  so  to  re- 
ceive the  benefits  severally  of  their  common  experience. 
The  present  construction  of  the  material  universe  is 
plainly  marked  with  the  intention  to  prohibit  intercourse ; 
but  this  vast  framework  is  a  means  only  to  a  higher 
end;  and  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  it  may  give  place  to 
another  order  of  things  :  or  another  order  of  things  may 
even  now,  although  to  us  occult,  be  actually  in  play  ;  as 
we  shall  presently  have  to  state. 

The  principle  of  insulation  may  long  prevail ;  and 
yet  at  length  give  way  to  the  higher  and  better  principle 
of  communion,  and  of  free  intercourse.  Thus  it  has 
actually  been  with  the  human  family.  During  many 
centuries  the  several  tribes  of  men,  remote  in  position, 
knew  little  or  nothing  of  each  other ;  nor  had  they  any 
extended  or  useful  correspondence.  Extensive  empires 
remained  secluded,  during  their  long  terms  of  wealth 
and  power,  and  passed  away,  leaving  barely  a  memorial 
of  their  existence.  But  now,  at  length,  all  nations  are 
drawing  close  the  bonds  of  brotherhood :  there  are  no 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  179 

longer  any  vast  unexplored  regions,  imprisoning  their 
inhabitants  :  commerce,  the  spirit  of  adventure,  and  the 
spirit  of  benevolent  enterprise,  are  fast  connecting  all 
with  all ;  and  it  is  now  within  the  prospect  of  the  human 
family  to  constitute  —  not  indeed  one  political  structure 
but  one  family,  cherishing  peace  from  a  sense  of  interest, 
and  a  sense  of  justice ;  and  mutually  promoting  the  ad- 
vance one  of  another,  as  the  surest  means  of  prospering 
severally.  Intercourse  and  combination  must  be  the 
ultimate  condition  of  those  who  are  by  nature  capable  of 
society.  Insulation  and  variance  are  unnatural,  and 
must  be  temporary. 

Species  incapable  of  entertaining  abstract  notions, 
and  therefore  incapable  of  generalization,  and  of  adapt- 
ing themselves  to  any  new  order  of  things,  and  incapa- 
ble, for  the  same  reason,  of  progress,  can  have  nothing 
to  gain,  either  from  intercourse  with  any  other  species, 
or  from  intercourse  with  new  masses  of  their  own  spe- 
cies. To  such,  the  results  of  individual  experience  can 
never  be  added  to  the  common  stock  of  knowledge  or  of 
skill.  But  herein  the  human  species  stands  immensely 
above  the  level  of  all  the  tribes  of  earth.  Except  by 
correspondence  with  his  fellows,  man  knows  nothing, 
and  can  do  nothing ;  but  by  the  aid  of  this  correspon- 
dence, a  common  fund  of  intelligence  is  formed,  which 
does,  or  which  may,  constantly  increase,  and  increase 
without  limit.  And  how  much  of  improvement  and  of 
advancement  may  spring  from  the  residence  of  an  indi- 
vidual only,  belonging  to  a  more  civilized  community, 
among  a  less  civilized  community !  Such  a  visit,  made 
under  auspicious  circumstances,  may  raise  the  nations 
of  a  continent  from  semi-barbarism,  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  refinement. 


380  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

So  far  as  we  see  or  know,  correspondence  and  inter- 
change of  knowledge,  among  races  that  have  made 
unequal  progress,  is  the  one  and  the  only  means  of 
advancement,  which  the  great  principles  of  the  intel- 
lectual system  admit  of.  The  Ruler  of  all  worlds  does 
not  immediately  instruct  any  in  what  it  most  concerns 
them  to  know,  and  because  it  does  not  consist  with  the 
laws  of  his  government  to  afford  any  such  direct  infor- 
mation, tribes  remain  ignorant,  from  age  to  age,  of  the 
simplest  and  most  necessary  truths.  But  it  does  consist 
with  these  laws  to  allow  the  better  informed  to  mix  with 
the  ignorant,  and  to  diffuse  the  benefits  of  their  acquire- 
ments. 

It  may  reasonably  be  doubted  whether  the  highest  and 
the  most  occult  truths  are  in  any  way  at  all  to  be  appre- 
hended and  made  intelligible,  except  as  they  may  slowly 
be  gathered,  in  the  way  of  induction,  from  a  copious  ac- 
quaintance with  facts  within  the  circle  of  which  those  ab- 
struse principles  may  be  seen  to  work  themselves  out. 
The  history  of  only  one  rational  family  cannot,  probably, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  carry  us  further  than  to  the  ex- 
tent of  a  very  partial  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the  moral 
universe.  But  the  history  and  experience  of  one  other 
such  family,  would  serve  to  expand  vastly  our  concep- 
tions, and  to  place  the  whole  of  our  previously  acquired 
moral  notions  in  a  new  light,  or  to  bring  them  into  a  new 
relative  position.  If  permitted  to  take  our  standing  at 
two  distant  points,  in  the  great  circle  of  the  social  system, 
we  should  gain  a  parallax,  and  thenceforward  should  have 
the  means  of  measuring  the  distance  between  ourselves 
and  the  centre  of  all,  with  some  certainty. 

And  the  advantage  accruing  from  correspondence  with 
one  other  race,  would  no  doubt  be  multiplied  in  extend- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  181 

ing  our  acquaintance  with  many  others.  Yet  even  this 
accumulation  of  substantial  knowledge  might  long  fall 
short  of  its  consummation,  and  we  might  be  conscious 
of  a  want  of  symmetry  in  our  notions,  without  the  power 
to  supply  the  deficiency.  But  in  some  remote  quarter 
of  the  universe,  and  perhaps  in  some  obscure  world,  there 
may  have  been  a  train  of  events,  altogether  peculiar,  arid 
such,  that  this  single  history  would  develope  the  MASTER 
PRINCIPLE  of  the  divine  government,  and  would  supply 
the  key  to  all  difficulties.  Until  this  one  race  has  been 
conversed  with,  and  its  history  perused,  all  races,  per- 
haps, may  vainly  ponder  the  reasons  of  the  procedures 
of  the  Supreme  Power;  nevertheless  the  actual  publica- 
tion of  this  clearing  instance  may  depend  (as  we  speak) 
upon  an  accident,  and  may  be  delayed,  through  cycles 
of  ages. 

Our  general  and  hypothetic  conclusion  is  this,  and  it 
may  be  expressed  in  two  propositions,  namely,  first,  That 
as  beings  endowed  with  the  faculty  of  abstraction  and 
generalization  are  thereby  made  capable  of  indefinite  im- 
provement through  the  means  of  intercourse,  individually, 
and  also  species  with  species,  such  intercourse  is  to  be 
regarded  as  probably  coming  within  the  ultimate  inten- 
tion of  the  divine  administration  toward  them  ;  for  other- 
wise these  intellectual  powers  would  fall  short  of  their 
highest  use :  and  secondly,  That  as  a  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  the  moral  system  is  proba- 
bly not  to  be  obtained  in  any  other  manner,  than  through 
a  process  of  extensive  induction  from  actual  facts,  even 
the  most  virtuous  and  rational  minds  must  forever  re- 
main bewildered  and  distressed,  in  relation  to  the  divine 
government,  unless  intercourse  at  large  with  other  races 
16* 


182  PHYSICALTHEORY 

of  moral  beings  is  to  be  allowed  in  a  future  stage  of  our 
existence. 

We  have  then  before  us,  on  the  one  hand,  the  very 
strong  abstract  probability  that  a  race  capable,  by  the 
faculties  conferred  upon  it,  of  indefinite  advancement, 
and  of  rising  to  the  very  highest  range  of  generalization, 
shall  at  length  come  into  correspondence  with  other  ra- 
tional orders,  and  perhaps  with  all.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  have,  not  merely  the  instinctive  expectation  of  another 
and  a  higher  mode  of  existence,  but  the  divinely  authen- 
ticated assurance  that  the  rational  universe  comprises  a 
lower  and  a  higher  species  of  corporeity ;  and  that  a 
transition  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  actually  awaits 
the  human  family.  Now  when  these  two  principles  are 
combined,  it  is  almost  inevitable  that  we  should  indulge 
some  conjectures  concerning  the  material  universe,  con- 
sidered as  the  theatre  of  a  great  intellectual  economy, 
and  as  framed  mainly,  though  by  no  means  exclusively, 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  effect  to  the  Jaws  and  ultimate 
intention  of  the  moral  world. 

The  various  conjectures  which  offer  themselves  to  our 
choice  on  this  ground,  seem  reducible  to  three  distinct 
suppositions,  each  of  which  is  sustained  by  a  degree  of 
probability ;  and  perhaps  after  stating  them  in  order,  we 
may  be  inclined  to  think  that  a  combination  of  the  three 
is  more  likely  to  be  near  the  truth  than  any  one  by  itself. 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE.  183 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  FIRST  CONJECTURE  CONCERNING  THE  MATERIAL 
UNIVERSE,  VIEWED  AS  THE  THEATRE  OF  AN  INTEL- 
LECTUAL SYSTEM. 

HAVING  before  us  the  assumed  (and  the  attested) 
fact  that  there  are  now  in  the  universe,  two  great  classes 
of  rational  beings,  both  corporeal,  but  the  corporeity  of 
the  one  dissoluble,  and  that  of  the  other  incorruptible ; 
and  then  taking  a  glance  at  the  great  sidereal  economy, 
consisting  as  it  does  of  two  classes  of  bodies,  the  one 
subordinate  to,  and  wholly  dependent  upon  the  other ; 
and  this  other  apparently  adapted  to  a  much  higher  mode 
of  existence  than  the  former,  the  supposition  almost  forces 
itself  upon  us  that,  while  the  planets  are  the  places  of  ani- 
mal organization,  and  the  schools  of  initiation  to  all  ra- 
tional orders,  the  sun,  of  each  such  system,  is  the  abode 
and  home  of  the  higher  and  ultimate  spiritual  corporeity, 
and  the  centre  of  assembly  for  those  who  have  passed 
their  preliminary  era  upon  the  lower  ranges  of  creation. 

It  is  surely  impossible  to  admit  the  supposition  that 
the  sun  is  the  mere  lamp  and  hearth  of  the  planetary  sys- 
tem, or  only  the  swivel  of  its  revolutions !  This  were 
much  the  same  thing  as  if,  in  viewing  from  a  hamlet  on 
a  mountain  side,  the  distant  metropolis  of  an  empire,  the 
gilded  domes  of  which  are  refulgent  in  the  beams  of  noon, 
one  were  to  imagine  that  the  great  world  is  not  in  that 


184  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

metropolis,  but  in  the  dozen  of  shepherds'  huts,  among 
which  one  stands. 

Recent  discoveries  make  it  more  than  barely  probable 
that  the  solar  surface,  shrouded  from  the  vertical  rays  of 
the  upper  and  phosphorescent  atmosphere,  by  an  inter- 
mediate nebulous  stratum,  dense  enough  to  moderate  the 
intensity,  as  well  of  light  as  of  heat,  may  sustain  life  not 
less  readily  than  the  surface  of  Mercury ;  and  that  in 
fact,  the  temperature  may  be  lower  on  the  former  than 
it  is  on  the  latter.  But  even  this  probability  is  not  ne- 
cessary to  our  conjecture,  inasmuch  as  the  assumption 
that  anything  beyond  a  certain  intensity  of  light  and  heat 
must  be  incompatible  with  life,  is  gratuitous. 

But  we  must  not  fail  here  to  point  out  one  leading  cir- 
cumstance in  which  the  solar  surface  is  distinguished 
from  the  planetary  surfaces,  considered  as  adapted  to 
the  support  of  corporeal  life  —  a  circumstance  so  highly 
significant  as  almost,  in  itself,  to  involve  the  very  points 
of  difference  which  we  have  supposed  to  distinguish  ani- 
mal from  spiritual  corporeity;  and  it  is  this  —  That  while 
the  surfaces  of  the  planets,  and  all  the  vegetable  and 
animal  species  thereon  subsisting,  are  liable  to  an  alter- 
nation of  heat  and  cold,  of  light  and  darkness,  and  there- 
fore live  through  returning  periods  of  excitement  and  re- 
pose, and  this  both  diurnal  and  annual ;  the  surface  of  the 
sun,  with  the  species  it  may  support,  is  uniformly  and 
perpetually  exposed  to  its  maximum  of  heat  and  light. 
That  is  to  say,  the  solar  tribes,  vegetable  and  animal, 
instead  of  passing,  at  regular  intervals,  from  stimulus  to 
exhaustion  —  from  activity  to  rest,  sustain  (if  we  should 
say  sustain]  an  equable  impulse,  from  the  external  ele- 
ments. But  stimulus  and  excitement  are  conditions  of 
existence,  implying  inertia  and  decomposition ;  and  where 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE. 


185 


there  is  no  such  alternation  of  action  and  inaction,  we 
may  assume  that  there  is  neither  a  spending  of  forces, 
nor  a  dissolution  of  structure.  The  physical  idea  of  solar 
life,  followed  out  on  the  apparent  fact  of  the  unintermit- 
ted  intensity  of  light  and  heat,  and  implying  also  the 
constant  action  of  all  powers  dependent  thereupon,  will 
amount  to  little  less  than  to  a  conception  of  incorrupti- 
bility, arid  immortality.* 

This  might  indeed  be  inferred,  by  contrast,  from  a  con- 
sideration of  what  we  see  to  be  involved,  as  it  respects 
vegetable  and  animal  organization,  in  the  diurnal  and  an- 
nual alternations  of  light  and  temperature.  An  argument 
of  this  sort  can  here  be  only  briefly  stated,  and  must  then 
be  left  with  the  reader,  to  admit  or  reject  it  as  he  may 
please.  The  supposition  may  be  placed  on  different 
grounds,  as  thus  :  —  It  is  certain  that  a  perpetual  day, 
and  a  perpetual  summer  ( other  consequences  not  now 
regarded )  would  very  quickly  exhaust  the  forces  of  all 
terrestrial  orders,  both  vegetable  and  animal,  and  must 

*  To  exclude  objections  against  our  present  hypothesis,  it  should 
be  stated  that,  by  the  revolution  of  the  sun  upon  its  axis,  and  by  the 
inclination  of  its  axis,  all  parts  of  its  surface  are  exposed  to  our 
observation ;  while  at  the  same  time,  by  the  frequent  breaking  out 
of  spots  in  all  parts  of  its  equatorial  zone,  the  physical  constitution 
of  the  whole  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  laid  before  us ;  nor  is  it  hardly 
possible  to  suppose  any  thing  else  than  that  the  solar  surface,  al- 
though there  may  be,  and  probably  are,  irregular  variations  of  tem- 
perature upon  it,  arising  from  the  accumulation  or  the  dispersion 
of  the  intermediate  reflecting  stratum,  is  yet  every  where,  and  al- 
ways acted  upon  by  so  much  of  the  phosphorescent  fluid  as  pene- 
trates that  stratum ;  nor  can  we  believe  that  there  is  any  thing 
resembling  a  regular  alternation  of  light  and  darkness  —  of  cold 
and  heat.  The  variations  may  be  such  as  we  are  conscious  of 
during  a  summer's  day ;  but  not  such  as  distinguish  midnight  from 
noon,  or  winter  from  summer. 


186  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

bring  all  kinds  of  life,  as  constituted  on  this  planet,  to  a 
close.  Life,  constituted  so  as  to  endure  an  unvaried  in- 
tensity of  light  and  heat,  must  be  framed  on  a  principle 
the  very  opposite  of  that  which  here  prevails  :  and  is  this 
opposite  any  other  than  that  of  incorruptibility,  and  of  an 
internal  force,  not  dependent  upon  excitements,  or  re- 
newable by  an  extraneous  pabulum  ? 

Or  thus  —  and  to  confine  our  attention  to  the  human 
system :  There  lative  forces  of  the  mind  and  body,  or 
what  may  be  called  the  corporeal  equipoise,  is  such  as 
that  the  voluntary  animal  functions  are  not  commensu- 
rate with  the  mental  activity ;  and  the  disparity  between 
the  two  is  made  up  by  imposing  upon  the  mind  a  long 
and  frequently  recurring  season  of  inaction,  in  sleep,  dur- 
ing which,  being  restrained  from  making  any  demand  up- 
on the  corporeal  mechanism,  the  latter  replenishes  its 
stock  of  excitability,  which  again,  and  very  soon,  is  to  be 
spent.  There  is  therefore  a  want  of  balance  between 
two  combined  powers  —  a  want  supplied  by  means  of 
the  collapse  or  confinement  of  the  power  which  would 
outrun  its  colleague.  But  an  essential  inequality  of  this 
sort  can  never  be  so  exactly  adjusted  as  that  the  one  force 
will  not,  by  a  little,  surpass  the  other ;  and  this  daily  in- 
crement, small  as  it]  may  be  in  each  instance,  must  at 
length  overthrow  the  equipoise  entirely;  —  so  that  the 
defective  power  will  at  last  give  way,  and  be  broken  up. 
We  consider  it  as  certain  that  death  must  ensue,  sooner 
or  later,  to  any  being  whose  constitution  combines  two 
unequal  forces,  the  inequality  of  which  has  to  be  reme- 
died by  imposing  frequent  cessations  upon  the  stronger 
of  the  two.  The  life  therefore  of  all  planetary  species, 
that  is  to  say,  of  all  species  exposed  to  the  alternations 
of  light  and  darkness,  and  which,  in  conformity  with  this 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  187 

alternation,  live  by  turns,  walking  and  sleeping,  is  a  life 
tending  to  dissolution.  But  the  solar  species  are  not  ex- 
posed to  any  such  alternation,  and  as  they  live  without 
repose,  may  be,  and  probably  are  —  immortal. 

Yet  let  this  incorruptibility  and  immortality  be  thought 
of  apart  from  those  religious  associations  which  the  words 
are  apt  to  call  up.  Incorruptibility  and  immortality,  we 
are  used  to  think  of,  only  in  connexion  with  the  Christian 
hope  of  a  better  life,  and  as  the  reward  of  the  good.  But 
the  exemption  of  life  from  corruption  and  dissolution  may 
now  be  enjoyed,  as  a  common  thing,  within  the  limits  of 
the  system,  of  which  our  globe  is  a  member.  Disor- 
ganization and  death  are  accidents  of  life  —  accidents, 
unavoidable  indeed  upon  the  planetary  surfaces  ;  but  not 
so  perhaps  upon  the  solar  :  and  upon  the  latter  it  may  be 
as  unnatural  to  die,  as  upon  the  former  it  is  unnatural 
long  to  live. 

Moreover,  as  we  seldom  if  ever  think  of  incorruptibil- 
ity and  immortality  except  as  the  inheritance  of  human 
nature,  and  of  the  higher  orders  of  beings,  we  may  be  led, 
by  a  conjecture  such  as  the  one  now  in  hand,  to  enlarge 
the  range  of  our  conceptions  of  the  material  universe, 
and  to  indulge  the  bright  and  happy  supposition  of  fair 
fields  of  life  and  bliss,  in  all  gradations,  from  the  lowest 
species  to  the  highest ;  and  all  freed  from  the  law  of  prey- 
ing one  upon  another,  and  of  death.  With  these  ideas 
before  us,  and  on  the  belief  that  solar  life,  as  compared 
with  planetary  life,  is  of  this  better  and  higher  sort,  let 
the  universe  be  contemplated,  and  let  us  admit  the  ex- 
hilarating conception  that  the  millions  upon  millions  of 
suns  filling  the  immensity  of  space,  are  spheres,  not  only 
of  perpetual  day  (  as  is  manifest )  but  of  undecaying  life  ! 
During  this,  our  planetary  stage  of  existence,  we  have 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 

our  lodging  in  the  murky  suburbs  of  creation ;  but  yet  a 
distant  view  of  royal  palaces  and  gardens  of  delight  is 
afforded  to  us,  nor  are  we  left  without  significant  indica- 
tions of  what  is  there  to  be  found. 

There  may  be  those  perhaps,  who  would  resent  it  as 
a  trivial  and  unworthy  supposition  that  a  heaven  can  be 
any  thing  except  a  grave  convocation  of  rational  worship- 
pers, convened  in  perpetuity  upon  ethereal  clouds,  and 
occupied  for  ever  in  one  and  the  same  estatic  manner. 
But  having  this  mundane  portion  of  the  creation  under 
our  eyes,  we  are  impelled  to  conceive  very  differently  of 
the  universe,  and  of  the  principles  which  will  be  found  to 
prevail  throughout  it.  Is  it  not  the  style  and  mode  of  the 
Supreme  Creative  Intelligence  to  take  the  widest  range, 
and  to  include  endless  varieties  and  interminable  grada- 
tions of  power  and  faculty  in  the  circle  of  his  works? 
Nothing  of  that  stern  pursuit  of  single  purposes  which 
belongs  to  ourselves,  when  intently  moved,  seems  to  at- 
tach to  the  creation.  Man  is  absorbed  in  his  immediate 
object,  if  that  object  be  important  in  his  view ;  but  God 
is  always  at  leisure,  and  while  accomplishing  the  stupen- 
dous purposes  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  scheme,  finds 
time  and  means  for  replenishing  the  elements  with  insect 
life,  and  for  decorating  all  surfaces  with  gay  vegetation. 

How  very  far  is  it  from  being  true,  for  example,  within 
the  vegetable  kingdom,  that  no  ends  are  kept  in  view  be- 
yond the  mere  subserviency  of  each  order  and  species  to 
the  uses  of  the  orders  next  above  it !  On  the  contrary, 
there  is  every  where  a  free  exuberance,  a  copiousness,  a 
versatility,  and  an  unchecked  love  of  embellishment  and 
beauty,  such  as  put  shame  on  the  supposition  that  the  rule 
of  a  dry  utility  has  been  followed  as  the  law  of  the  crea- 
tion. In  truth  the  uses  which  any  one  species  may  be 


OF    ANOTHER     LIFE. 

thought  to  subserve,  appear,  most  often,  to  be  adjunctive> 
and  seem  an  accidental  circumstance,  thrown  in  upon  the 
main  design.  But  if  a  principle  so  rich  and  free  be  in- 
deed the  law  of  the  Creative  Power,  it  will  show  itself  in 
all  worlds ;  and  most  of  all  in  those  warm  and  resplendent 
spheres  where  the  elementary  conditions  are  such  as  pe- 
culiarly to  favour  its  developement. 

The  prejudices  (not  perhaps  very  culpable)  of  a  some- 
what morbid  spirituality,  would  perhaps  lead  us  to  distaste 
the  animated  world  around  us,  as  God's  work,*  or  to  be 
scandalized  at  some  of  its  conditions ;  and  thus  it  is  con- 
ceivable that  the  realities  of  the  upper  world,  when  first 
they  open  upon  minds  imbued  with  prepossessions  of  this 
kind,  may  excite  a  recoil  and  an  amazement,  that  will  try 
the  principles  of  piety.  Let  it  just  be  conceived  of  that 
a  spirit,  born  and  trained  in  some  pure  ethereal  region  of 
reason  and  love,  and  where  no  orders  of  creatures  inferior 
to  itself  had  ever  been  seen  or  heard  of,  and  where  the  at- 
tributes of  Deity,  in  the  most  abstract  mode  of  their  ex- 
pression, had  alone  been  contemplated  ;  let  it  be  suppos- 
ed that  such  a  spirit  was  told  it  should  be  taken  where 
the  Creative  Power  had  put  itself  forth  in  quite  another 
manner ;  and  then  that  it  should  be  brought,  without  fur- 
ther preparation,  to  this  planet  of  ours,  and  be  placed  in 
the  depth  of  a  teeming  wilderness  of  the  torrid  zone  ;  and 

*  The  ancient  manichean  doctrine  gave  a  bold  and  distinct  ex- 
pression to  this  order  of  prejudices ;  and  it  was  plainly  avowed,  by 
the  authors  of  that  system,  that  they  could  not  admit  the  present 
world,  with  its  animal  species,  to  be  the  work  of  supreme  benevo- 
lence, wisdom,  and  purity.  Nothing  is  more  dangerous  than  to  in- 
dulge notions  which  tend  to  make  us  think  our  tastes  and  princi- 
ples more  refined  and  elevated  than  those  of  the  Creator  and  Ruler 
of  the  universe.  Something  of  this  infatuation  very  commonly  be- 
sets ardent  and  abstracted  minds. 
17 


190  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

there  led  to  examine,  not  only  the  luxuriance  and  beauty 
of  the  vegetable  orders,  but  the  forms,  instincts,  habits, 
of  the  insect  tribes,  and  of  the  reptiles,  the  birds,  the  quad- 
rupeds, which  people  the  sultry  forest.  Now  although 
ourselves,  with  the  preparation  we  have  gone  through,  are 
in  position  to  admire  these  various  orders,  and  in  fact  to 
derive  from  this  very  source,  a  main  portion  of  the  evi- 
dence of  natural  theology,  may  it  not  be  imagined  that, 
to  a  pure  spirit,  such  as  we  have  here  supposed,  the  effect 
of  the  whole  exhibition,  and  of  all  its  details,  would  be  to 
generate  a  sort  of  wonder,  not  unmixed  with  perplexity, 
and  even  distress  1 

Something  perhaps 'analogous  to  this  may  await  the 
human  mind  when,  after  having  entertained  abstract  no- 
tions of  the  Divine  Nature,  and  in  forming  which  we  have 
consulted  our  own  narrow  conceptions  of  what  ought  to 
be,  rather  than  coolly  considered  what  is,  we  are  introduc- 
ed into  another  domain  of  God's  universal  empire,  where, 
instead  of  the  meagre  and  colourless  outline  which  had 
stood  before  our  poor  imaginations,  we  behold  the  rich  and 
various  products  of  the  Infinite  Intelligence  ;  all  indeed 
bright  and  good  ;  —  but  good  in  a  sense  related  to  infinite, 
not  to  finite  reason.  Now  the  products  of  infinite  power 
and  absolute  wisdom  not  merely  surpass  our  powers  and 
our  notions  in  dimensions,  but  in  kind  also,  and  in  lead- 
ing principles.  That  is  to  say,  the  universe  is  not  only 
more  vast  than  we  can  measure  or  conceive  of;  but  it  is 
more  various  than  we  are  apt  to  imagine  ;  and  moreover 
it  involves  and  exhibits  motives  or  reasons  of  procedure, 
such  as  would  by  no  means  have  occurred  to  us,  as  natu- 
ral, or  as  abstractedly  probable,  considered  in  relation  to 
what  we  assume  concerning  the  divine  attributes. 

Now  to  revert  a  moment  to  our  present  conjecture, 


OF    ANOTHER     LIFE.  191 

concerning  the  construction  and  intention  of  the  visible 
universe,  there  are  some  perhaps  who,  in  the  loftiness  of 
their  religious  conceptions,  would  resent,  as  totally  un- 
worthy and  grovelling,  the  supposition  that  the  sun  of 
our  own  system,  and  that  each  sun  of  each  system,  is  a 
heaven  to  its  planetary  tribes,  and  that  this  solar  heaven 
is  stocked  with  various  orders  of  sentient  beings.  Let 
then  the  supposition  be  discarded  by  those  who  distaste 
it,  and  assuredly  the  author  has  no  fond  anxiety  to 
defend  and  retain  it ;  nor  does  he  attach  any  value  to  it, 
otherwise  than  so  far  as  it  may  serve  a  purpose  which 
he  deems  in  some  degree  important,  namely,  that  of 
tending  to  bring  our  religious  conceptions  into  definite 
alliance  with  the  real  world,  and  with  nature,  and  to 
break  up  a  little,  those  vague  and  powerless  notions 
which  place  our  religious  expectations  at  a  dim  remote- 
ness from  whatever  is  substantial  and  effective.  Let 
us  try  to  persuade  ourselves  that  the  future  and  unseen 
world,  with  all  its  momentous  transactions,  is  as  simply 
natural  and  true,  as  is  this  world  of  land  and  water,  trees 
and  houses,  with  which  now  we  have  to  do. 

The  opinion  has  been  often  advanced,  and  seems  to 
be  gathering  strength,  that  the  sun  and  other  stars,  that 
is  to  say  the  entire  celestial  system  visible  to  us,  is  in 
actual  movement,  in  one  direction ;  or  that  it  is  revolv- 
ing around  a  common  centre.  But  who  shall  calculate 
the  dimensions  of  that  central  mass  which  may  be  ade- 
quate to  sustain  the  revolutions  of  all  suns  and  worlds  ? 
This  opinion  is  just  named  in  this  place,  that  we  may 
point  out  its  relation  to  our  present  conjecture.  —  If  each 
sun  be  a  place  of  assembly,  and  a  home  of  immortality 
to  the  rational  planetary  tribes  of  its  system,  the  vast 


192  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

world  around  which  all  suns  are  supposed  to  be  revolv- 
ing, may  be  the  home  of  a  still  higher  order  of  life,  and 
the  theatre  of  a  still  more  comprehensive  convocation  of 
the  intellectual  community. 

There  remains,  however,  one  point  of  geological  and 
mathematical  speculation  which  ought  to  enter  into  our 
present  conjecture.  It  is  then  believed,  on  the  ground 
of  a  calculation  of  forces,  that  our  own  planet,  and 
others,  are  not  solid  globes,  but  hollow  spheres,  or  sphe- 
rical shells  including  a  perhaps  irregular,  but  vast  cavity, 
and  this  cavity  occupied  by  some  elastic  fluid  or  gas. 
Does  then  this  inner  and  hidden  world  subserve  any 
purpose  connected  with  the  destinies  of  those  who  are 
treading  or  who  have  trodden  the  surface  ?  or  has  the 
dim  cavern  sentient  tribes  of  its  own  1  We  do  not  pro- 
pose to  pursue  the  conjecture;  but  yet  must  just  place 
it  in  apposition  with  that  very  ancient,  and  may  we  not 
say  biblical  classification  of  all  intelligent  orders,  under 
the  three  heads  of  celestials,  terrestrials,  and  subterra- 
neans ;  or  as  they  are  designated  by  St.  Paul,  the  stfoupa 
the  stfsioi,  and  the  x 


*  Phillippians  ii.  10;  where  the  universal  sovereignty  of  the 
Son  of  God  is  distinctly  stated  as  including  the  three  great  orders- 
of  the  intelligent  economy  —  the  heavenly,  the  earthly,  and  the 
subterrene.  This  passage  should  be  compared  with  Romans 
xiv.  9  ;  where  the  course  passed  through  by  the  Saviour  of  men  is 
declared  to  have  had  a  reference  to  the  due  exercise  of  his  destined 
sway  over  the  dead  and  the  living  ;  or,  according  to  the  opinion 
which  the  apostle  may  be  held  to  adopt  and  sanction,  over  the  in- 
habitants of  the  superficial  world,  and  of  the  abyss,  or  central 
cavern.  Again  we  should  refer  to  Revelation  v.  3,  and  13,  where 
(which  is  especially  to  be  noted)  the  designation  of  the  Kara^Q^  viot 
is  varied,  and  they  are  described  as  those  who  are  V-KOKOLTW  rtjs 
yijs  and  where,  moreover,  they  are  associated  with  those  who 
gladly  render  "  blessing  and  honour,  and  glory  and  power,  to  him 
that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb." 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  193 

This  classification  of  intelligent  beings,  we  should 
remember,  by  no  means  corresponds  with  the  distribu- 
tion we  are  most  accustomed  to  think  of,  namely,  that 
which  arranges  all  rational  beings  into  the  three  classes 
of  the  inhabitants  of  heaven,  holy  and  happy ;  the  inhab- 
itants of  earth,  who  are  on  their  probation ;  and  the  con- 
demned and  infernal  spirits.  For,  on  the  one  hand 
certain  classes  of  the  celestials,  the  stfoupavtoi,  are  spoken 
of  by  St.  Paul  as  in  open  opposition  to  the  divine  gov- 
ernment,* while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  infernals,  or  the 
inhabitants  of  the  nether  region,  or  of  Hades,  are  repre- 
sented as  the  subjects  of  the  Messiah's  kingly  function; 
and  also  (as  in  the  passages  mentioned  in  the  note)  as 
joining  with  the  celestials  and  the  terrestrials,  in  an  an- 
them of  praise  —  to  God  and  the  Lamb. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  place  for  pursuing  any  bibli- 
cal or  properly  theological  question.  All  we  now  at- 
tempt is  just  to  state  the  fact,  that  there  is  an  apparent 
or  conjectural  correspondence  between  the  biblical  clas- 
sification of  the  intellectual  community,  and  our  hypoth- 
esis concerning  the  three  modes  of  existence  which 
seem  to  be  provided  for  in  the  structure  of  the  material 
universe.  If  we  rightly  understand  the  affirmations  and 
the  intimations  of  the  inspired  writers,  man  is  destined 
to  pass  through  three  stages  of  life  ;  the  first,  upon  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  arid  subject  to  the  conditions  of 
animal  organization  ;  the  second  (if  we  do  not  mistake 
the  apostolic  words)  "  under  the  earth,"  and  in  a  transi- 
tion-form, of  attenuated  and  inactive  corporeity  ;  and  the 
third,  and  ultimate,  in  a  region  of  power,  incorrupt- 
ibility, and  full  activity.  This  our  first  conjecture 

*  Ephesians  vi.  12. 
+  17 


194  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

then,  concerning  the  material  universe,  considered 
as  the  frame  of  the  intellectual  economy,  brings  the 
visible  and  the  invisible  worlds  into  conjunction  in 
that  manner  which,  at  a  glance,  offers  itself  to  our  ac- 
ceptance as  obvious  and  natural.  Nevertheless,  what- 
ever may  be  the  pretensions  of  this  hypothesis,  we  hold 
it  cheap  ;  and  go  on  to  state  another,  which  may  equally 
well  consist  with  what  we  are  bound  to  believe  on  better 
evidence. 


OF    ANOTHER    L  I  F  E 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE   SECOND  CONJECTURE. 

BUT  we  are  now  to  hold  in  abeyance,  or  altogether 
to  exclude  the  conjecture  above  stated,  concerning  the 
material  universe,  as  adapted  to  sustain  three  orders  of 
intelligent  beings ;  and  on  the  contrary,  shall  assume 
that  planets  and  suns  alike,  and  all  worlds,  visible  and 
palpable,  are  the  theatres  of  animal  life  merely ;  and 
that  whatever  species  may  inhabit  these  spheres,  are 
subject  to  decay  and  corruption;. 

This  supposed;  then  our  second  conjecture  is —  That, 
within  the  field  occupied  by  the  visible  and  ponderable 
universe,  and  on  all  sides  of  us,  there  is  existing  and 
moving  another  element,  fraught  with  another  species  of 
life  —  corporeal  indeed,  and  various  in  its  orders,  but 
not  open  to  the  cognizance  of  those  who  are  confined  to 
the  conditions  of  animal  organization  —  not  to  be  seen, 
nor  to  be  heard,  nor  to  be  felt  by  man.  We  here  assert, 
and  insist  upon,  the  abstract  probability  that  our  five 
modes  of  perception  are  partial,  not  universal  means  of 
knowing  what  may  be  around  us  ;  and  that  as  the  physi- 
cal sciences  furnish  evidence  of  the  presence  and  agency 
of  certain  powers  of  nature  which  elude  the  senses,  ex- 
cept in  some  of  their  remote  effects,  so  are  we  denied 
the  right  of  concluding  that  we  are  conscious  of  all  real 
existences  within  our  sphere 

Something  must  presently  be  said  with  the  view  of 


196  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

loosening  the  natural  prejudice  which  impels  us  to  con- 
clude that  nothing  corporeal  can  elude  our  senses,  but 
first  let  the  conjecture  now  in  hand  be  distinctly  stated. 

There  prevails  throughout  the  system  of  nature  a  per- 
vading of  the  dense  elements  by  the  less  dense,  or  the 
fluid,  or  gaseous.  Thus  all  solid  bodies  are  penetrated, 
either  by  humidity,  or  by  the  elastic  gases,  or  by  the  im- 
ponderable elements,  light,  heat,  electricity,  magnetism. 
Again,  fluids  are,  in  like  manner,  pervious  to  other  fluids, 
with  which  they  may  combine ;  and  also  to  elastic  gases, 
and  to  the  elements  just  named ;  and  in  its  turn,  the  rarest 
gas  is  traversed  by,  and  commingled  with,  other  elastic 
bodies,  and  by  heat,  electricity,  or  magnetism.  In  some 
cases  the  pervading  element  affects  the  element  per- 
vaded ;  thus  heat  expands  metals,  and  at  a  certain  point 
fuses  them ;  and  so  galvanism  puts  into  activity  the  che- 
mical affinities  of  many  solids  and  fluids.  But  in  other 
cases  the  pervading  element  takes  its  course  through  the 
pervaded  body  without  giving  any  indication,  upon  that 
body,  of  its  presence,  or  of  its  passage.  Thus  electricity 
may  pass,  unnoticed,  through  a  perfectly  conducting  sub- 
stance, or  the  magnetic  attraction  takes  its  way  through 
intervening  bodies,  which  in  no  sensible  manner  it  dis- 
turbs ;  and  thus  too  does  the  power  of  gravitation  take 
effect  at  the  greatest  distances,  without  rendering  itself 
sensible  in  any  other  manner  than  that  of  effecting  an 
approximation  of  masses. 

But  is  this  constant  principle  of  the  visible  world,  which 
shows  itself  in  a  thousand  modes  around  us  —  is  it  ex- 
hausted and  done  with,  in  the  instances  which  our  modern 
physical  discoveries  have  brought  to  light  ?  We  should 
confidently  assume  the  contrary,  and  believe  nothing  less 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE.  197 

than  that  it  has  a  still  further  and  higher  play  in  relation 
to  the  sentient  and  intellectual  universe.  That  is  to  say, 
we  insist  upon  the  abstract  probability  of  the  existence, 
on  all  sides  of  us,  of  an  invisible  element,  sustaining  its 
own  species  of  beings  ;  —  some  perhaps  as  slenderly  en- 
dowed with  rational  faculties  as  are  the  insect  tribes  of 
earth,  and  others,  in  gradation,  rising  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  intelligence  and  moral  dignity  :  —  some  accountable 
and  immortal ;  others  ephemeral  and  prompted  only  by 
instincts. 

Our  present  conjecture  reaches  to  the  extent  of  sup- 
posing that,  within  the  space  encircled  by  the  sidereal 
revolutions,  there  exists  and  moves  a  second  universe, 
not  less  real  than  the  one  we  are  at  present  conversant 
with ;  a  universe  elaborate  in  structure,  and  replete  with 
life ;  —  life  agitated  by  momentous  interests,  and  per- 
haps by  frivolous  interests ;  a  universe  conscious  per- 
haps of  the  material  spheres,  or  unconscious  of  them, 
and  firmly  believing  (as  we  do)  itself  to  be  the  only 
reality.  Our  planets  in  their  sweep  do  not  perforate 
the  structure  of  this  invisible  creation ;  our  suns  do  not 
scorch  its  plains ;  for  the  two  collated  systems  are  not 
connected  by  any  active  affinities. 

We  see  that  the  Creator  works  on  a  scale  which,  in  a 
mathematical  sense,  is  greater  than  can  be  computed  or 
imagined ;  and  that  he  advances  toward  the  infinite  in 
both  directions ;  that  is  to  say,  toward  the  infinitely  great, 
and  the  infinitely  small.  We  see  also  that  the  utmost 
range  of  variety,  both  in  principle  and  form,  is  taken  in 
the  construction  of  the  sentient  system ;  and  that  the 
physical  capacity  of  our  own  world  for  sustaining  life  is 
enlarged  by  the  suffusion  of  element  upon  element,  each 
peopled  with  its  animated  orders.  We  are  therefore  al- 


198  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

most  compelled  to  entertain  the  belief  that  the  very  same 
law  goes  on,  as  far  as  it  can  go  on,  and  that  the  invisible 
orders  are  not  less  numerous  than  the  visible.  Our  sight 
and  touch  take  us  on  to  a  certain  stage  of  the  creation, 
informing  us  of  whatever  lies  beneath,  or  upon  that  stage; 
and  there  they  stop.  But  is  the  eye  of  man  the  measure 
of  the  Creator's  power  1  —  has  he  created  nothing  which 
he  has  not  exposed  to  our  senses  ?  The  contrary  seems 
much  more  than  barely  possible ;  —  ought  we  not  to 
think  it  almost  certain  ? 

In  stating  the  conjecture  that  the  two  worlds,  the  visi- 
ble and  the  invisible,  may  coexist  within  the  same  space, 
unconscious  of  each  other,  and  not  related  by  any  affini- 
ties, we  assume  what  is  abstractedly  possible;  but  should 
unquestionably  consider  as  more  probable  the  supposition 
that  the  two  orders  of  existence,  whether  consciously  or 
not,  on  both  sides,  are  yet  really  related  one  to  the  other, 
and  that  in  fact  the  one  is  an  after-stage  to  the  other. 
Here  again  we  cling  to  the  aid  furnished  in  so  many 
cases  by  actual  analogies. 

Let  it  be  considered  then,  that  while  there  is  among 
many  of  the  terrestrial  orders,  a  tendency  to  advance 
from  a  lower  to  a  higher  mode  of  existence,  and  in  all 
a  progression  from  the  germ  to  the  bud,  and  from  the 
bud  to  the  fruit,  and  from  the  embryo  to  the  perfect  ani- 
mal ;  and  while  the  human  mind  indicates  this  law  in  its 
desire  of  advancement,  in  the  general  sentiment  of  hope 
—  the  most  permanent  impulse  of  our  nature,  and  in  its 
aspirations  after  immortality ;  —  while  we  say  there  is 
this  upward  and  onward  tendency  in  the  sentient  and  ra- 
tional world,  the  desires  and  propensities  of  all  orders 
impel  them  also  in  the  contrary  direction,  and  lead  all  to 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  199 

seek  their  support,  and  their  gratification,  rather  beneath 
than  above  the  level  of  their  natures,  respectively.  This 
downward  tendency  is  the  most  remarkable  in  man,  who 
is  always  seen  (powerful  corrective  influences  apart)  to 
seek  his  happiness  in  a  lower  range  of  gratifications. 
Man  may  be  destined  to  rise  on  the  scale  of  existence ; 
but  his  actual  disposition  is  to  descend.  Indeed  when 
most  alive  to  the  elevating  motives  of  intelligence  and 
piety,  he  is  still,  by  his  constitution,  and  the  necessities 
of  his  nature,  compelled  to  converse  chiefly  with  things 
of  a  lower  range,  and  to  be  employed  in  affairs  little  ac- 
cordant, apparently,  with  his  high  hopes. 

Now  something  akin  to  this  law  of  attachment  to  things 
beneath  us,  may  affect  the  invisible  orders.  They  may, 
while  in  progress  upward  by  destiny,  yet,  by  actual  in- 
stinct and  impulse,  be  looking  downward :  they  may 
crowd  around  the  solid  masses  of  the  material -universe 
—  as  birds  in  migration  alight  upon  the  sails  and  masts 
of  ships  in  the  mid  ocean ;  they  may  concern  themselves 
with  the  interests  of  the  planetary  tribes,  and  make  them- 
selves parties  in  the  affairs  of  the  lower  world.  All  this 
may  be,  without  supposing  that  such  supernal  beings  are 
actuated  by  motives  unworthy  of  their  rank  ;  for,  as  we 
see,  apart  from  any  degrading  sentiment,  or  sensual 
taste,  the  human  mind  delights  itself  in  the  order  and 
beauty  of  the  animal  creation,  explores  too  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  inanimate  world,  finds  its  recreation  among 
the  humblest  varieties  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  spe- 
cies, and  especially  draws  the  most  refined  gratifications 
of  its  rational  tastes  from  the  pursuit  of  the  mere  rela- 
tions of  extension  and  number ! 

We  would  not  follow  a  too  abstruse  idea,  and  yet  are 
inclined  to  believe  that  the  very  law  of  dependent  na- 


200  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

lures,  which,  apart  from  the  constant  energy  of  the  Di- 
vine will,  would  reduce  them  to  nothing,  actually  ope- 
rates so  far  as  to  produce  a  sort  of  intellectual  gravita- 
tion of  all  rational  beings,  toward  the  lower  ranks  of  ex- 
istence. So,  while  there  are  impulses  bearing  us  up- 
ward and  onward ;  there  is  also  a  uniform  tendency  down- 
ward, or  toward  that  nihility  out  of  which  we  sprang. 
But  this  notion  we  merely  mention,  and  pass  on. 

The  conjecture  of  an  invisible,  sentient,  and  rational 
economy,  coexistent  with  the  visible  universe,  and  occu- 
pying corporeally  the  same  field,  comports  well  enough, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  with  the  intimations  of  scrip- 
ture concerning  the  spiritual  world  ;  and  it  consists  also 
with  every  analogy  of  the  physical  system,  as  understood 
by  modern  science ;  for  it  is  ascertained  —  that  ponder- 
able elements  pervade  one  the  other  —  that  the  impon- 
derable pervade  all  —  that  different  kinds  of  emanations 
or  vibrations  pass  and  repass,  in  the  most  intricate  man- 
ner, through  the  same  spaces,  without  in  the  least  degree 
disturbing  each  other ;  and  finally,  that  the  most  power- 
ful agencies  are  in  operation  around  us,  of  which  we  have 
no  immediate  perception,  and  which  we  detect  only  by 
deductions  from  circuitous  experiments.  Nevertheless 
our  present  conjecture,  although  so  amply  sustained  by 
various  analogies,  infringes  upon  certain  natural  preju- 
dices, which  impel  us,  contrary  to  the  discoveries  of 
science,  to  assume  that  there  can  be  nothing  near  us, 
when  we  perceive  nothing ;  or  that  our  senses  attach  to, 
and  reveal,  all  species  of  corporeal  existence  that  come 
within  their  range.  But  a  little  attention  to  the  subject 
will  suffice  to  show  that  this  organic  confidence  is  noth- 
ing better  than  a  prejudice ;  and  that  it  ought  to  be  set 


OP    A  N  O  T  H  E  R    L  I  FE .  201 

off  from  our  philosophic  speculations ;  —  it  is  in  fact 
wholly  destitute  of  foundation. 

Nothing  is  easier  than  to  conceive  of  human  nature  as 
destitute  of  some  one  of  its  faculties  of  sensation ;  and 
in  truth  there  are  frequent  instances  in  which  one  of  the 
senses  is  totally  wanting.  Now  in  such  cases  the  mind 
is  cut  off  from  a  possible  and  real  relationship  to  the  ma- 
terial system,  and  goes  about  conversing  with  the  exterior 
world,  utterly  unconscious  of  those  properties  which 
should  affect  the  sense  it  is  deprived  of;  and  in  such  a 
case,  this  individual  mind,  unconscious  of  light,  or  of 
sound,  or  of  tastes,  or  of  odours,  is  in  a  position  precisely 
analogous  to  that  in  which  we  assume  all  human  minds, 
within  the  limits  of  animal  organization,  to  be  :  that  is  to 
say,  surrounded  by  properties  or  powers  of  which  they 
have  no  kind  of  perception,  and  of  which  they  can  form 
no  idea. 

In  relation  to  smell  and  taste,  which  are  the  least  con- 
stant, or  the  most  occasional  of  the  senses,  and  the  least 
extensive  in  their  range,  we  can  readily  conceive  of  our- 
selves as  destitute  of  them  entirely ;  and  can  also  easily 
grant  that  there  may  be  many  properties  around  us,  analo- 
gous to  those  made  known  to  us  by  the  gustatory  and  ol- 
factory organs,  of  which  we  have  no  perception.  We 
never  deem  it  incredible  that  there  may  be  effluvia  or 
sapid  substances,  such  as  escape  detection  by  the  smell 
and  taste  ;  on  the  contrary,  the  existence  of  some  such 
unperceived  qualities  or  substances  is  very  frequently  as- 
sumed as  probable.  We  are  somewhat  less  ready  to  im- 
agine that  there  may  be  modulations  of  the  atmosphere 
of  a  kind  which  the  tympanum  does  not  catch  ;  although 
it  maybe  proved  that  the  undulations  of  sound,  like  other 
undulations,  may  so  intersect,  as  to  annul  each  other. 
18 


202  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

It  is  therefore  credible,  not  only  that  there  may  be  sounds 
too  delicate  to  affect  the  human  ear ;  but  also  sounds  of 
a  species  of  which  the  auditory  nerve  is  insensible.  Sound 
is  conveyed,  not  by  the  atmosphere  only ;  but  by  other 
elastic  bodies ;  and  by  some  much  more  rapidly  and  per- 
fectly than  it  is  by  the  air :  as  for  example,  by  water,  ice, 
and  timber.  In  fact*  the  atmosphere,  although  the  most 
usual,  is  one  of  the  most  sluggish  of  the  conductors  of 
sound. 

With  these  facts  under  our  view,  the  conjecture  comes 
near  to  be  verified,  when  we  suppose  that  there  may  be 
an  elastic  ether,  susceptible  of  sonorous  vibrations  in  a 
still  more  delicate  manner,  and  capable  of  conveying 
these  vibrations  much  further,  and  more  instantaneously, 
than  any  of  the  bodies  actually  known  to  us.  Or  we 
might  go  a  step  further.  —  The  sensation  of  light  is  now 
believed  to  result  from  the  vibrations,  not  the  emanations, 
of  an  elastic  fluid  or  ether ;  but  this  same  element  may 
be  capable  of  another  species  of  vibrations ;  or  the  elec* 
trie,  or  the  magnetic  fluids  may  be  susceptible  of  some 
such  vibrations  ;  or  an  element,  as  universally  suffused 
as  light,  through  the  universe,  may  be  the  medium  of 
sonorous  undulations,  equally  rapid  and  distinct,and  serv- 
ing to  connect  the  most  remote  regions  of  the  universe 
by  the  conveyance  of  sounds ;  just  as  the  most  remote 
are  actually  connected  by  the  passage  of  light.  Yet  the 
sonorous  vibrations  of  this  supposed  element  may  be  far 
too  delicate  to  awaken  the  ear  of  man  ;  or  in  fact,  of  a 
kind  not  perceptible  by  the  human  auditory  nerve. 

We  refuse  to  allow  that  a  conjecture  of  this  sort  is  ex- 
travagant, or  destitute  of  philosophic  probability  :  on  the 
contrary,  consider  it  as  borne  out,  in  a  positive  sense,  by 
the  discoveries  of  modern  science.  Might  we  then  rest 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  203 

for  a  moment  upon  an  animating  conception  ( aided  by 
the  actual  analogy  of  light )  such  as  this,  namely,  that 
the  field  of  the  visible  universe  is  the  theatre  of  a  vast 
social  economy,  holding  rational  intercourse,  at  great  dis- 
tances. Let  us  claim  leave  to  indulge  the  belief,  when 
we  contemplate  the  starry  heavens,  that  speech —  inquiry 
and  response  —  commands  and  petitions  —  debate  and 
instruction,  are  passing  to  and  fro  :  or  shall  the  imagina- 
tion catch  the  pealing  anthem  of  praise,  at  stated  seasons 
arising  from  worshippers  in  all  quarters,  and  flowing  on 
with  a  thundering  power,  like  the  noise  of  many  waters, 
until  it  meet  and  shake  the  courts  of  the  central  heavens ! 

But  the  natural  prejudice  which  stands  in  the  way  of 
our  analogical  conjectures  is  firmer  in  relation  to  the  ob- 
jects of  sight,  than  in  any  other  parallel  instance.  The 
vastness  of  the  field  over,  which  the  faculty  of  vision  gives 
us  a  command,  the  precision  and  permanence  of  this  class 
of  our  perceptions,  and  especially  the  constant  relation 
subsisting  between  the  senses  of  sight  and  touch  ( in 
themselves  the  most  constant  of  the  senses, )  so  that 
whatever  affects  the  latter,  does,  or  may,  affect  the  former, 
and  the  converse  —  we  say  these  conditions  of  the  visual 
faculty  impel  us  powerfully,  and  almost  irresistibly,  to 
suppose  that  nothing  corporeal  can  escape  it,  and  that 
where  NOTHING  is  SEEN,  NOTHING  EXISTS. 

But  now  is  this  instinctive  persuasion  in  relation  to 
sight,  at  all  better  founded  than  we  have  admitted  it  to  be 
in  relation  to  the  other  senses?  We  are  compelled  to  grant 
there  may  be  properties  analogous  to  those  that  are  the 
objects  of  taste  and  smell,  which  entirely  elude  our  powers 
of  perception ;  nor  can  we  deny  the  possibility  of  there 
being  sonorous  vibrations  inaudible  ( in  degree  or  kind  ) 
to  the  human  ear,  What  then  are  our  perceptions  of 


204  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

colour  and  form,  but  the  consequences  of  the  emanations? 
or  the  vibrations  of  a  certain  elastic  element,  as  the  per- 
ceptions of  smell  are  the  consequences  of  the  emana- 
tions of  another  elastic  element  1  These  vibrations  of 
light  are  repelled,  or  repeated,  by  all  bodies  which  also  af- 
fect the  sense  of  touch ;  and  by  this  double  means  we  as- 
sure ourselves  of  the  presence  —  the  forms,  the  distances, 
of  solid  and  fluid  bodies.  Meantime,  by  other  means, 
we  ascertain  the  presence  of  some  elements  not  percep- 
tible by  the  touch,  and  of  some  that  are  not  perceptible 
by  the  eye ;  and  we  have  indirect  or  inductive  evidence 
of  the  presence  of  some,  in  no  way  immediately  percep- 
tible, or  otherwise  to  be  known  except  in  their  ultimate 
effects.  Thus  the  presumption  that  the  eye  sees  whatever 
is  material,  fails  when  we  examine  it;  nor  can  we  with  rea- 
son allow  it  to  influence  our  conclusions  or  conjectures. 
The  magnetic  influence  or  stream  is  not  palpable,  as 
is  a  current  of  water,  or  of  air;  nor  is  it  visible,  like  the 
former,  but  yet  it  proves  its  reality  by  giving  a  regular 
figure  to  loose  particals  of  iron,  and  by  sustaining  a  mass 
of  steel  in  contact  with  the  magnet.  In  this  instance* 
touch  and  sight  go  no  further  thartto  make  us  acquainted 
with  the  product  of  an  occult  power.  On  the  table  be- 
fore us  a  needle,  nicely  balanced,  trembles,  and  turns  with 
constancy  towards  a  certain  spot  in  the  arctic  regions; 
but  an  iron  box,  placed  near  it,  disturbs  this  tendency, 
and  gives  it  a  new  direction.  We  assume  then  the  pre- 
sence of  an  element  and  a  power,  universally  diffused, 
of  which  we  have  no  direct  perception  whatever.  Now  let 
it  be  imagined  that  the  sheets  of  a  manuscript,  scattered 
confusedly  over  the  table  and  the  floor,  are  seen  slowly* 
and  with  a  tremulous  movement,  to  be  adjusting  them* 
selves  according  to  the  order  of  the  pages,  as  already 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE 


205 


numbered,  and  that  at  last  every  leaf  and  every  loose 
fragment  has  come  into  its  due  place,  and  is  ready  for  the 
compositor.  In  such  a  case  we  should  assuredly  assume 
the  presence  of  an  invisible  rational  agent,  just  as  in  the 
case  of  the  oscillations  of  the  needle,  we  had  assumed 
the  presence  of  an  invisible  elementary  power. 

Now  although,  in  the  one  instance,  we  think  of  nothing 
but  what  is  natural  and  ordinary,  while  in  the  other  we 
must  attribute  the  facts  to  a  supernatural  agent,  and  are 
more  startled  or  perplexed  by  the  one  than  the  other,  is 
there  any  ground  whatever  for  considering  the  one  as  ab- 
stractedly incredible,  and  impossible,  while  the  other  is 
known  to  be  real  and  ordinary  ?  It  is  true  the  one  has 
never  happened  to  ourselves,  and  the  other  frequently  or 
constantly  occurs  ;  but  if  the  senses,  all  of  them  together, 
totally  fail  to  detect  the  magnetic  power,  until  by  the  ac- 
cident of  a  balanced  needle  it  makes  itself  known,  in  one 
of  its  effects,  may  not  these  same  senses  also  fail  in  de- 
tecting a  sentient  and  rational  power,  near  to  us  ;  and 
whether  or  not  this  rational  power  shall  give  us  some  pal- 
pable evidence  of  his  presence  ?  Our  conclusion  is  that 
our  instinctive  persuasion  of  the  non-existence  of  that, 
concerning  which  none  of  the  senses  afford  us  any  inti- 
mation, is  a  prejudice,  not  entitled  to  any  respect,  if  it 
stands  in  the  way  of  a  belief  sustained  by  independent 
reasons. 

The  possibility  and  probability  of  the  existence,  near 
us,  of  invisible  sentient  beings,  may  be  stated  in  another 
manner.  Sensation  may  be  considered  as  the  product 
of  two  powers,  combined,  or  acting  one  upon  the  other. 
On  the  one  side  there  is  the  material  property  —  the  ema- 
nation or  the  vibration  of  ethereal  and  elastic  elements ;  and 
18* 


206  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

on  the  other  side  the  percipient  faculty,  or  the  power  of 
being  wrought  upon  by  these  material  vibrations.  Now 
it  is  only  fair  to  suppose  that  these  correlative  powers  are, 
at  least,  so  far  analogous,  or  similar,  as  that  if  the  one 
be  invisible,  and  impalpable,  and  imponderable,  the  other 
may  be  so  too.  If  the  exciting  principle,  although  pre- 
sent, and  potent,  may  elude  detection,  in  every  way,  ex- 
cept that  one  in  which  it  affects  the  single  sense ;  may 
not  the  percipient  principle  be  equally  invisible,  and  im- 
palpable 1  To  adduce  a  familiar  illustration,  the  scent 
of  musk,  powerful  as  it  is,  may  fill  a  chamber,  and  yet 
it  is  totally  unperceived  by  the  eye,  and  the  touch,  and 
the  ear,  and  the  taste  ;  nevertheless  it  is  an  energetic  in- 
fluence, although  attenuated  in  a  degree  inconceivable  ; 
for  it  will  remain  attached  to  walls  and  apparel  years  after 
the  substance  of  the  perfume  has  been  withdrawn.  Why 
then  should  not  the  olfactory  sense  be  capable  of  exist- 
ing in  an  equally  impalpable  and  invisible  condition  ?  or 
why  may  it  not  be  attenuated  in  an  equal  degree,  and  yet 
retain  its  power  and  reality  ?  The  scent  emanates  indeed 
from  a  solid  and  tangible  substance  ;  and  the  sensation  is 
attached  to  a  solid  and  tangible  organ ;  but  as  the  actual 
emanation  is  invisible  and  impalpable,  so  may  be  the  per- 
ception, and  the  perceptive  being. 

The  readiness  with  which  we  admit  the  belief  of  a 
sentient  and  rational  universe,  existing  on  all  sides  of  us, 
although  unseen,  or  the  reluctance  we  feel  to  admit  any 
such  supposition,  will  be  affected  by  the  notion  enter- 
tained of  the  mode  in  which  the  mind  occupies,  and 
operates  within,  the  animal  organization ;  and  especially 
by  our  opinion  concerning  the  functions  of  the  brain, 
and  of  the  nervous  system.  The  hypothesis  briefly  stated 
in  the  third  and  fourth  chapters  of  this  volume,  concern- 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE.  207 

ing  the  muscular  power,  and  the  limitation  of  perception 
in  the  organs  of  sense,  is  open,  as  the  author  is  well 
aware,  to  objection  on  the  ground  of  the  commonly  re- 
ceived theory  of  the  generation  of  muscular  motion,  and 
of  the  office  of  the  sensorium  ;  and  he  is  aware  too,  that 
a  full  explanation  of  his  own  views  on  these  subjects  — 
to  do  any  justice  to  them,  and  to  set  them  clear  of  appa- 
rent difficulties,  would  demand,  not  merely  ample  space, 
but  an  elaborate  examination  of  the  animal  structure,  such 
as  might  place  the  two  theories  on  a  ground  of  fair  com- 
parison. But  neither  do  the  limits  of  the  present  essay 
admit  of  any  such  discussion,  nor  would  it  well  comport 
with  the  general  strain  of  the  work  ;  nor  indeed  could  it 
it  easily  be  made  intelligible  to  all  readers.  Neverthe- 
less a  concise  statement  of  his  opinion  seems  almost  ne- 
cessary to  sustain  the  author's  conjectures  and  assump- 
tions, in  more  than  one  or  two  instances. 

The  brain  is  spoken  of,  as  well  by  anatomists  and 
physiologists,  as  by  metaphysicians,  as  being  not  only 
the  seat  of  the  mind,  and  the  organ  of  the  intellectual 
operations,  but  as  the  emanating  centre  of  those  voli- 
tions which  precede  muscular  motion,  and  as  the  recep- 
tacle of  impressions  from  the  several  senses.  It  is 
within  the  brain,  we  are  told,  that  the  mind  converses 
with  the  notices  of  the  external  world,  conveyed  to  it  by 
the  nervous  chords  from  the  external  organ  of  each 
setose  ;  and  it  is  within  the  brain  that  the  determination 
takes  place  to  move  the  limbs  in  this  or  that  direction ; 
which  determination,  when  formed,  flows  down  by  the 
channel  of  the  nerves  to  the  particular  muscles  the 
agency  of  which  is  demanded  to  produce  the  required 
line  or  circuit  of  movement. 

Now  it  must  be  granted,  in  the  first  place,  that  in  the 


208  PHYSICALTHEORY 

above  statement  very  much  more  is  assumed  than  can  be 
supported  by  any  sort  of  proof;  and  therefore,  very 
much  of  which  is  fairly  open  to  question ;  and  in  the  se- 
cond place,  that  this  same  theory  of  sensation  and  mus- 
cular action,  instead  of  its  being  the  involuntary  dictate 
of  our  consciousness,  contradicts  our  impressions,  and 
our  natural  suppositions;  and  therefore,  is  not  entitled 
to  our  assent  unless  established  by  very  satisfactory 
evidence. 

The  author  must  not  be  understood  as  intending  that 
our  consciousness,  whether  mental  or  animal,  ought  to 
be  received  implicitly,  as  an  indication  of  occult  pro- 
cesses ;  for  there  are  several  familiar  instances  in  which 
it  is  unquestionably  fallacious.  Nevertheless  some  de- 
gree of  regard  should  certainly  be  paid  to  those  involun- 
tary impressions  that  arise  from  our  organic  sensations  ; 
and  these  impressions  are  entitled  to  be  considered  as 
just,  until  proved  to  be  untrue.  Now,  on  the  very  ground 
of  these  spontaneous  convictions,  let  it  be  granted  that 
the  brain  is  the  seat  and  centre  of  all  purely  intellectual 
operations; — the  organ  of  memory,  conception,  imagi- 
nation, reasoning,  and  of  moral  sentiment ;  excluding, 
perhaps,  certain  of  the  emotions,  in  relation  to  which  our 
consciousness  doesr  not  very  decisively  refer  them  to  the 
brain. 

We  leave,  therefore,  the  brain  in  undisturbed  posses- 
sion of  its  prescriptive  honours,  as  the  residence  of  the 
mind  ;  but  the  very  reason  of  the  belief  that  the  higher 
faculties  perform  their  part  within  the  cranium,  if  allowed 
to  influence  also  our  opinion  concerning  sensation  and 
muscular  movement,  would  lead  to  a  very  different  sup- 
position ;  and  assuredly  it  would  never  suggest  the  no- 
tion either  of  our  despatching  orders  from  the  brain 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE. 

down  the  spinal  chord  and  crural  nerve,  to  certain  mus- 
cles of  the  leg ;  or  of  our  feeling  the  pinch  of  a  tight 
shoe,  —  not  in  the  toe,  but  near  to  where  we  feel  the 
pinch  of  a  tight  hat. 

Occult  as  is  the  principle  of  animal  life,  and  difficult 
as  are  all  questions  relating  to  the  connexion  between 
the  mind  and  the  body,  it  yet  does  not  appear  by  any 
means  a  hopeless  endeavour  to  trace  that  principle  a  step 
further  than  at  present  it  is  known.  The  doing  so  in  a  sa- 
tisfactory manner,  must  involve  both  a  patient  and  exact 
examination  of  the  visible  mechanism  of  the  body,  and  a 
sagacious  pursuit  of  every  clue  afforded  by  the  innume- 
rable accidents  and  peculiarities  which  so  often,  in  an 
unexpected  manner,  reveal  the  long  hidden  secrets  of 
nature.  Meantime  different  and  opposite  theories  should 
be  entertained,  so  that  we  may  be  in  readiness  to  avail 
ourselves,  at  a  moment,  of  any  such  fortunate  indica- 
tiona. 

As  for  instance,  let  us  take  a  glance  at  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, first  with  the  supposition  in  view  that  it  is  the  me- 
dium through  which  specific  volitions  are  conveyed  from 
the  brain  to  the  muscular  mechanism.  Now  although 
it  would  be  unwarrantable  to  affirm  that  the  convey- 
ance of  distinct  volitions  through  a  system  of  interlaced 
chords,  such  as  we  find  the  nerves  of  muscular  motion 
to  be,  is  absolutely  impossible ;  it  is  yet  in  the  highest 
degree  difficult  to  maintain  our  belief  of  any  such  con- 
veyance, while  we  trace  the  intricacies,  and  examine  the 
actual  arrangement,  of  these  chords.  Let  the  axillary 
plexus  be  spread  out  in  its  multiform  combinations,  and 
the  anastomosing  branches,  and  the  subsidiary  twigs  of 
the  leading  chords  be  examined ;  especially  let  the  pe- 


210  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

culiar  structure  of  the  ganglia,  as  discovered  by  the  aid  of 
the  microscope,  be  understood.  Within  the  plexuses, 
and  in  the  substance  of  the  ganglia,  the  nbrillse,  consti- 
tuting the  contributory  chords,  are  intermixed  in  the  most 
intimate  and  intricate  manner  conceivable  ;  and  the  en- 
tire construction  is  such  as  would  seem  fitted,  not  for 
the  transmission  of  volitions  in  a  distinct  manner,  from 
the  brain  to  the  limb ;  or  for  the  return  of  sensations 
from  the  limb  to  the  brain ;  but  for  confounding  effect- 
ively all  such  supposed  transmissions.  Scores  of  in- 
stances might  be  specified  in  which  very  remarkably, 
provision  is  made,  as  if  for  commingling  and  confusing 
the  lines  of  communication  between  the  brain  and  the 
extremities ;  and  it  may  boldly  be  affirmed  that  if  the 
office  of  the  nervous  network  were  totally  unknown,  and 
unsuspected,  the  very  last  supposition  that  would  be  sug- 
gested by  a  view  of  its  structure  would  be,  that  it  is  con- 
trived to  convey  particular  volitions  to  particular  mus- 
cles. 

If  the  scheme  of  the  nerves  be  spread  out,  and  com- 
pared with  the  scheme  of  the  arteries,  or  of  the  veins,  in 
a  similar  manner  exposed,  it  appears  that  there  is  even 
more,  in  the  former,  of  anastomosis,  and  more  of  involu- 
tion and  intricacy,  by  plexus  and  gangila,  and  by  retro- 
grade ramifications,  than  in  the  two  latter.  That  is  to 
say,  in  the  former,  more  than  in  the  latter,  provision  is 
made  for  the  uninterrupted  transmission  of  whatever  is 
transmitted  at  large,  to  all  parts  of  the  extremities,  and 
for  its  indiscriminate,  or  promiscuous  conveyance.  It  is 
plainly  a  matter  of  secondary  importance  to  the  limbs 
whether  they  receive  the  requisite  supply  of  blood 
through  one  trunk,  or  through  another ;  so  that  it  does 
but  come  in  sufficient  quantity,  and  with  sufficient  force ; 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  211 

or  whether  the  expended  fluid  be  returned  through  one, 
or  through  another  canal.  And  in  like  manner  (and 
even  more  clearly)  the  main  intention  of  nature  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  nervous  ramifications  appears  to  be, 
the  affording  an  unfailing  supply  of  some  necessary 
influence,  or  ether,  to  all  parts  of  the  muscular  apparatus, 
by  any  means,  and  by  all  means  ;  and  so  that  if  one  me- 
dium of  conveyance  should  be  accidentally  compressed, 
the  emanation  may  yet  reach  the  parts  by  some  circuit, 
not  exposed  to  the  same  obstruction. 

We  assume  then  that,  as  our  consciousness  informs 
us  of  no  such  process  as  that  of  the  despatching  of  voli- 
tions to  the  muscles,  so  neither  does  the  construction  of 
the  nervous  system  indicate  its  adaptation  to  a  process 
of  this  kind ;  but  the  contrary,  and  in  the  most  decisive 
manner. 

But  now  let  it  be  supposed  (we  here  confine  our  at- 
tention to  muscular  motion)  that  the  nervous  system, 
connecting  the  brain  and  spinal  process  with  the  entire 
muscular  apparatus,  serves  no  other  purpose  than  that 
of  conveying,  from  the  former  to  the  latter,  a  copious 
efflux  of  (shall  we  say)  galvanic  power;  which  power 
the  cerebral  mass  incessantly  generates.  We  then,  for 
simplification's  sake,  consider  the  muscles,  those  of  the 
arm,  for  instance,  as  consisting  only  of  flectors  and  de- 
flectors ;  or  we  may  imagine  a  single  pair  of  antagonists, 
of  which  the  one  bends,  and  the  other  extends  the  limb. 
On  our  present  supposition  then,  the  brain,  by  the  me- 
dium of  the  brachial  nerves,  supplies  both  these  muscles, 
evenly  and  perpetually,  with  the  contractile  excitement, 
whatever  it  may  be,  which  shall  enable  each,  when  called 
upon,  to  become  dense  and  tumid  in  the  requisite  degree. 


212  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

What  then  is  volition,  but  the  immediate  mental  in- 
fluence,  present  in  the  arm,  and  determining  it  to  bend 
or  to  straighten  ?  The  mind  is  not,  as  we  suppose,  the 
prisoner  of  the  attic  story ;  but  is  the  occupant  at  large, 
of  the  entire  animal  organization,  acting  in  each  part  of 
the  structure  according  to  the  purpose  of  each  :  —  in  the 
arm  and  leg,  moving  hither  or  thither,  by  its  inherent 
power  over  matter; — in  the  skin,  in  the  eye,  the  ear, 
the  tongue,  the  nasal  membrane,  receiving  immediately 
the  impressions  of  external  objects,  by  its  inherent  sus- 
ceptibility of  the  properties  of  matter ;  and,  let  it  be 
granted,  within  the  cranium,  carrying  on  the  higher  pro- 
cesses of  thought. 

The  supposition  above  stated  concerning  muscular 
motion  requires  only  an  adaptation  of  terms  in  order  to 
apply  it  to  sensation.  Instead,  for  example,  of  assuming 
that  the  picture  falling  on  the  retina  is  transmitted,  in 
some  inconceivable  manner,  by  the  optic  nerve  to  the 
sensorium,  and  that  there,  undisturbed  and  unmixed,  it 
delivers  itself  to  the  percipient  organ,  we  imagine  that 
the  optic  nerve  supplies  the  retina  with  a  copious  and 
constant  stream  of  the  exciting  influence  —  let  it  be  gal- 
vanism, and  that  the  mind,  upon  the  very  bed  of  the 
nerve,  and  where  the  actual  picture,  in  all  its  vivid 
colours  rests,  converses  with  it,  and  that  it  does  so  be- 
cause it  is  originally  capable  of  conversing  with  light  and 
colours;  although,  while  lodged  in  the  animal  body,  it  is 
restricted  from  holding  any  such  converse,  except  upon 
the  expansion  of  the  optic  nerve. 

We  must  go  however  a  step  further,  and  inquire  what 
probably  may  be  the  use,  or  whence  is  the  necessity  of 
the  (galvanic)  influence  generated  in  the  brain,  and 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  213 

thence  conveyed  to  the  muscles  and  the  organs  of  sense. 
Now  our  theory  involves  the  supposition  that  the  inhe- 
rent percipient  faculty  of  the  mind  (and  the  same  of  its 
mechanical  power)   is  so  imprisoned  within  the   solid 
substance  of  the  animal  body  as  to  be  totally  screened 
from  impressions  of  the  external  world,  except  just  so 
far  as  this  solid  substance  may  be  vehemently  stimu- 
lated, commoved,  and  rendered  impressible  by  the  pow- 
erful action  of  the  (galvanic)  fluid.     The  very  same  ir- 
resistible agent  which  compels  earths  to  yield  their  me- 
tallic bases,  and   which  decomposes  what  nothing  else 
can  move,  brings  the  animal  fibre,  and  the  reticular  ex- 
pansions of  the  nerves  into  a  state  of  excitability,  such  as 
enables  them  to  correspond  to  the  vibrations  of  light,  or 
of  sound,  or  to  the  chemical  properties  of  sapid  or  odor- 
iferous bodies.     All  that  the  mind  needs  for  sensation  is 
that  the  external  material  vibration,  as  of  light,  sound, 
&c.  should  be  responded  to  by  an  internal  vibration, 
or  commotion,  of  the  animal  substance :  but  this   de- 
mands a  highly   charged   (galvanic)  condition  of  the 
organ  of  sense.     It  is  as  if  a  stretched  wire,  which 
faintly  corresponds  to  a  musical  note,  might  be  made 
to  do  so  more  delicately  and  more  forcibly,  by  making 
it  the  channel  of  a  galvanic  current.     It  is  not  that  the 
MIND  needs  this  excitement ;  but  the  fleshy  organ  needs 
it,  in  order  to  its  admitting  the  external  vibratory  im- 
pression. 

The  tremendous  (voltaic)  apparatus  which  fills  the 
cranium  has  relation,  as  we  now  suppose,  to  the  inert- 
ness and  the  inelasticity  of  the  animal  body ;  and  if  the 
mind  were  imagined  to  be  corporeally  combined  with  a 
highly  elastic  fluid,  or  an  ether  susceptible  of  the  most 
delicate  vibrations,  there  would  then  be  no  more  occa- 
19 


214  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

sion  for  the  galvanic  stimulus :  a  mind  thus  embodied 
would  need  no  brain,  no  nerves,  no  organs  of  sense,  and 
no  contractile  fibres. 

The  well  known  effect  of  galvanism  upon  the  limbs  of 
a  dead  animal  may,  at  first,  appear  not  to  comport  with 
the  theory  we  are  now  propounding ;  for  in  these  in- 
stances muscular  motion,  which  we  attribute  to  the  di- 
rective influence  of  the  mind,  resident  in  the  limb,  is  seen 
to  be  produced  —  not  by  mind,  but  by  the  electric  stream. 
We  however  gather  a  direct  confirmation  of  our  conjec- 
ture, from  these  very  facts ;  which  indeed,  on  due  con- 
sideration, can  hardly,  if  at  all,  be  made  to  consist  with 
the  common  supposition  of  the  transmission  of  volitions 
from  the  brain  to  the  muscles,  through  the  nerves.  If 
the  office  of  the  nerves  is  to  transmit  the  will  of  the 
mind,  distinctively,  to  the  muscles,  we  see  them,  in  the 
case  of  a  separated  limb,  transmitting  something  very 
different  from  such  volitions  —  namely,  a  galvanic 
stream  ;  and  yet  although  the  cause  is  totally  unlike,  the 
effect  is  the  same  as  if  a  volition  had  been  conveyed. 

But  upon  our  present  supposition,  what  happens  in 
applying  the  galvanic  wire  to  the  sciatic  nerve  of  a  frog, 
is  precisely  what  we  should  expect  to  happen.  That  is 
to  say,  the  nerve,  in  this  case,  conveys  the  very  same 
element  or  energy  which  it  has  been  wont  to  convey 
during  the  life  of  the  animal :  this  exciting  agent,  namely, 
the  galvanic  fluid,  is  instantaneously  suffused  through 
the  whole  limb,  and  is  distributed,  in  its  accustomed  pro- 
portions, to  the  entire  systefm  of  muscles.  But  inasmuch 
as  the  mind  of  the  animal  has  been  withdrawn  from  those 
muscles,  which,  while  it  was  present,  either  retained 
them  all  at  rest,  or  employed  one  set  of  them  at  pleasure, 
this  sudden  chemical  excitement,  acting  simultaneously, 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  215 

and  without  direction,  upon  all,  nothing  else  can  take 
place  but  that  the  largest  and  the  most  powerful  muscle 
of  the  lirnb  should  carry  it  against  the  smaller  and  the 
feebler;  and  thus,  in  the  instance  of  the  frog,  the  limb  is 
forcibly  projected  from  the  glass  that  had  contained  it. 
Its  leap  is  the  frog's  most  powerful  muscular  action  ; 
and  therefore  the  limb,  stimulated  to  action  without  the 
mind  —  leaps. 

An  analogous  effect,  as  we  believe,  follows  in  all 
cases  of  the  application  of  galvanism  to  bodies  recently 
dead:  —  thus  the  rabbit  jumps,  and  the  human  counte- 
nance is  frightfully  contorted,  in  consequence  of  the  con- 
traction of  the  stronger  muscles  of  the  face.  If  the 
weaker  set  of  muscles  could,  in  this  artificial  manner, 
be  acted  upon,  placid  and  pleasing  expressions  would 
no  doubt  be  produced.  In  the  case  of  convulsive  af- 
fections of  the  face,  in  the  living  body,  the  distortion 
arises  plainly  from  this  very  cause,  namely,  that  there  is 
a  suffused  muscular  excitement,  not  directed  by  the 
mind,  and  therefore  taking  effect  upon  all  the  stronger 
muscles ;  while  the  weaker,  instead  of  being  held  in  that 
state  of  easy  counterpoise  which  the  mind,  when  not  dis- 
turbed, maintains,  yield  to  an  unnatural  violence  ;  and 
therefore  do  not  fill  out  the  general  contour  as  they  do 
when  under  the  command  of  the  will,  but  give  way  with 
a  tremulous  resistance. 

That  which  happens  among  the  muscles  when  their 
contractility  is  stimulated,  apart  from  the  control  of  the 
mind,  may  be  rendered  familiarly  intelligible  by  consid- 
ering what  takes  place  when  a  mast  or  balk,  fixed  per- 
pendicularly, is  supported  in  three  directions  by  chords, 
one  of  these  chords  being  five  times  the  size  of  the 
other  two  together.  Then,  if  the  three  are  equally 


PHYSICAL    THEORY 

moistened  by  a  sudden  shower,  the  mast  is  immediately 
drawn  from  the  upright,  by  the  large  rope ;  while  the 
two  smaller,  its  antagonists,  either  loosen  their  attach- 
ments, or  are  snapped.  This  mechanical  effect  differs 
little  in  its  proximate  cause  from  what  is  observed  in 
cases  of  epileptic  fits,  locked  jaw,  and  mortal  convul- 
sions ;  for  the  directive  and  commanding  influence  of 
the  mind  being  diverted,  or  withdrawn,  while  the  con- 
tractile galvanic  stimulus  continues  to  flow  from  the 
brain  to  the  extremities,  it  inevitably  happens  that,  in 
each  set  of  antagonists,  the  more  bulky,  or  what  is  equiv- 
alent, the  more  excitable  muscles,  prevail  over  their 
feebler  partners ;  and  a  rigid  contraction  is  the  conse- 
quence.* Thus  the  fingers  are  indented  into  the  palms, 
and  the  temporal  and  masseter  muscles,  the  natural 
power  of  which  vastly  exceeds  that  of  the  digastricus 
and  platysma  myoides,  hold  the  lower  jaw,  as  if  iron 
bound,  in  contact  with  the  upper.  But  when  the  mental 
disturbance  is  remedied,  and  the  voluntary  principle  re- 
turns to  its  seat  and  office,  then  this  same  force  of  the 
temporal  and  masseter  muscles,  equal  to  500  Ibs.  weight, 
and  by  no  means  counteracted  by  an  equal  force  in  the 
antagonists,  is  held  in  equilibrio,  and  in  fact  is  so  deli- 
cately balanced  by  the  mental  authority,  as  not  only  to 
act  its  part  with  precision  in  the  mechanical  operation  of 
mastication,  but  to  play  in  with  the  exquisite  movements 
that  govern  the  modulations  of  the  voice.  The  part 

*  Spasmodic  or  convulsive  muscular  contractions  arise,  as  we 
suppose,  from  the  withdrawment  of  the  mind  ;  while  the  chemical 
stimulus  continues  to  flow  to  the  parts  affected.  On  the  contrary, 
paralytic  distortions  we  attribute  to  a  partial  suppression  of  the  ex- 
citement furnished  by  the  brain :  —  partial,  and  just  enough  to 
allow  the  larger  and  stronger  muscles  to  act. 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  217 

performed  by  the  temporal  and  masseter  muscles,  in 
speaking  and  singing,  might  be  compared  to  the  service 
rendered  by  a  powerful  and  well-trained  horse,  required 
to  pull  within  the  sixteenth  of  an  inch,  and  in  combina- 
tion too  with  the  power  of  a  dog  or  of  a  child :  his  whole 
force  is  always  in  readiness ;  but  it  is  so  under  control 
as  to  reach  the  precise  limit  required,  and  yet  not  to 
surpass  it. 

All  the  facts  connected  with  the  ascertained  difference 
between  the  voluntary  and  involuntary  muscles,  readily 
fall  in  with  the  theory  that  the  function  of  the  brain,  in 
relation  to  the  muscular  system,  does  not  consist  in  send- 
ing forth  volitions  ;  but  simply  in  maintaining  a  copious 
supply  of  contractile  excitement  (whether  galvanic  or 
not)  that  the  nerves  convey  this  chemical  energy,  and 
disperse  it  promiscuously,  among  the  muscles,  and  that 
the  actual  employment  of  this  force  rests  with  the  mind, 
present,  not  in  the  cranium,  but  in  the  limb. 

A  muscle,  the  antagonist  of  which  is  another  muscle, 
comes  necessarily  within  the  control  of  the  voluntary 
principle  ;  for  nothing  else  can  command  it ;  and  if  this 
be  withdrawn,  a  spasmodic  contraction  of  the  stronger 
of  the  two  is  the  consequence.  But  if  the  antagonist 
force  be  merely  mechanical,  as  it  is  in  the  heart,  the  sto- 
mach, and  the  intestines,  there  will  take  place  an  oscil- 
lation or  alternation  between  the  two  unlike  powers .  that 
is  to  say,  the  supply  of  excitement  from  the  brain  being 
limitted  in  quantity,  or  coming  only  at  a  given  rate,  it  will 
be  expended  in  overcoming  the  mechanical  force,  which, 
for  a  moment,  gains  upon  it ;  but  during  the  interval  of 
relaxation,  the  galvanic  excitement  has  again  accumu- 
lated, and  in  its  turn  overpowers  the  mechanical  resist- 
ance, and  muscular  contraction  ensues. 
19* 


218  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

A  too  long  continued  exertion  of  the  voluntary  mus- 
cles produces  a  painful  sense  of  the  overthrow  of  the 
natural  equipoise  of  the  powers.  That  is  to  say,  the 
mind  has  been  demanding  motion  at  a  greater  rate  than 
that  at  which  the  brain,  in  its  ordinary  state,  can  furnish 
the  contractile  chemical  excitement;  and  the  limb,  draw- 
ing this  pabulum,  as  it  can,  from  the  nerves  of  sensation, 
and  from  the  surface,  a  sense  of  pain  follows :  at  the  same 
time  the  animal  spirits  fail.  But  it  is  manifest  that  the 
mind,  as  seated  in  the  brain,  has  a  power  of  rousing  it 
to  an  extraordinary  effort,  so  as  to  develope  a  more  than 
usual  amount  of  the  electric  element.  Thus  a  powerful 
motive  for  continued  exertion,  as  when  a  man,  to  save 
his  life,  is  running  from  his  enemy,  disperses  for  a  time 
the  sense  of  fatigue.  Nevertheless  this  power  of  extra- 
ordinary galvanic  developement  has  its  limits ;  and  the 
brain  indicates  afterwards,  the  violence  which  it  has  sub- 
mitted to,  arid  refuses,  for  a  while,  to  furnish  even  its  or- 
dinary quantum  of  chemical  power. 

The  functions  of  the  brain,  in  relation  to  the  INTEL- 
LECTUAL FACULTIES,  is  a  subject  far  too  difficult  and 
copious  to  be  entered  upon  in  this  place ;  nor  is  it  in  fact 
so  nearly  connected  with  our  proper  subject  as  is  the 
theory  of  sensation  and  muscular  motion.  In  reference 
to  these,  we  cannot  allow  it  to  be  hopeless  that  some 
satisfactory  conclusion  should  be  arrived  at.  The  proper 
path  of  experiment,  it  would  not  be  very  difficult  to  mark 
out ;  and  there  are  some  means  of  bringing  the  question 
to  the  test  of  facts  which,  as  the  author  believes,  could 
hardly  fail  to  decide  it.  Let  it  be  for  a  moment  granted 
that  the  function  of  the  brain,  in  relation  to  sensation  and 
muscular  motion,  is  simply  chemical,  and  has  respect  to 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  219 

the  inertness  of  the  animal  substance,  and  to  its  low  de- 
gree of  elasticity;  and  then  the  way  will  be  open  for 
readily  conceiving  of  other  species  of  corporeity  —  im- 
palpable, and  invisible ;  but  not  less  sensitive,  or  less 
potent,  than  is  animal  corporeity ;  on  the  contrary,  more 
so. 

If  the  functions  of  the  brain  be  only  conditionally  ne- 
cessary, in  relation  to  sensation  and  motion,  we  may  easi- 
ly believe  that  they  are  only  conditionally  necessary  in 
relation  to  the  more  purely  intellectual  operations  ;  or  in 
other  words,  that  there  need  be  no  voltaic  pile  where  the 
material  vehicle  of  the  mind  is  in  itself  in  a  high  degree 
elastic,  and  responsive  to  every  kind  of  vibration.  Let 
it  only  be  supposed  that  there  is  about  us  a  fluid,  the 
counterpart  of  that  ether,  the  vibrations  of  which  give  us 
the  sensation  of  light  —  a  fluid  in  an  equal  degree  capable 
of  receiving  and  of  transmitting  undulations  incalculably 
minute  and  rapid.  Mind  amalgamated  with  such  a  fluid, 
might  be  immediately  conversant  with  all  the  properties 
of  matter ;  and  even  much  more  intimately  and  exten- 
sively conversant  with  them  than  it  can  while  it  depends 
for  its  sensibility  upon  the  constancy  and  amount  of  the 
galvanic  element. 

This  imperfect  statement  of  a  conjecture  concerning 
the  office  of  the  brain  and  nerves,  although  it  may  seem 
a  digression  from  the  immediate  subject  of  the  present 
chapter,  is  not  really  so,  since  it  opens  the  way  for  our 
conceiving  of  what,  on  the  ground  of  scriptual  evidence, 
we  have  reason  to  think  is  real  —  namely,  the  repletion 
of  the  visible  universe  with  invisible  corporeal  beings  ; 
and  it  may  incline  us  the  more  readily  to  admit  the  belief 
that  the  creation,  beside  its  sentient  orders,  connected 
with  animal  organization,  abounds  with  tribes,  sentient 


220  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

and  rational,  whose  corporeity  is  impalpable  and  invisible, 
and  who  are  tenants  of  what,  in  our  accommodated  sense, 
may  be  called,  a  quintessence. 

These  invisible  orders,  beside  the  impulse  of  their  in- 
stincts and  their  interests,  may,  by  physical  necessity, 
and  perhaps  by  their  liability  to  gravitation  (however  at- 
tenuated their  substance  )  be  gathered  around  the  solar 
and  planetary  bodies  ;  so  that  each  world  may  have  its 
own  ethereal  nations,  as  well  as  its  terrestrial,  or  rather  its 
animal  species  :  each  planet,  as  well  as  our  own,  may 
have  its  stfoupavioi,  its  gViysioi,  and  its 


In  collating  these  speculations  with  the  general  tenor 
and  the  particular  testimony  of  the  scriptures,  it  maybe 
well  to  keep  in  mind  a  principle  which  seems  pretty  well 
sustained  —  That  the  inspired  writers  always  hold  close 
to  mundane  affairs,  and  intend  to  speak  only  of  the  his- 
tory and  destinies  of  the  families  of  earth  ;  seldom,  if 
ever,  opening  to  us  a  wider  prospect.  On  the  strength 
of  this  principle,  we  may  then  assume  the  probability  that 
the  spiritual  beings,  good  and  evil,  spoken  of  in  the  scrip- 
tures, are  all,  or  most  of  them,  of  mundane  origin  ;  and 
although  some  may  now  move  in  a  wider  circle,  that  they 
have  sprung  from  this  soil.  Are  there  reasons  for  sup- 
posing that  the  solid  materials  of  our  planet  have  served 
purposes  in  a  period  anterior  to  the  birth  of  the  human 
family?  Such  a  belief  we  do  not  regard  as  contradictory 
to  any  scriptural  doctrine  ;  or  to  the  Mosaic  history  of  the 
creation.  But  if  so,  these  pre-adamic  families,  like  the 
children  of  Adam,  may  have  acquitted  themselves  vari- 
ously during  their  term  of  animal  existence,  some  having 
broken  their  allegiance  to  the  Supreme  Power,  while 
others  have  preserved  virtue  and  loyalty.  Yet  both  may 


OF    ANOTHER     LIFE.  221 

(  whether  constantly  or  not )  attach  to  the  scene  of  their 
early  history,  and  mingle  themselves  with  the  destinies  of 
their  successors.  Hence  the  conflicts  and  the  commo- 
tions, the  beneficent  agencies,  and  the  malignant  influ- 
ences, to  which  the  inspired  writers  are  ever  and  again 
making  allusion.  But  this  entire  subject,  considered  as 
a  matter  of  biblical  inquiry,  urgently  demands  a  new  in- 
vestigation, under  the  guidance  of  those  careful  and  yet 
free  principles  of  interpretation  which  have  lately  been 
coming  into  operation.  This  however,  in  the  meantime, 
may  be  said,  that,  should  a  rational  and  laborious  exami- 
nation of  the  scriptural  evidence  relating  to  invisible 
orders,  lead  to  a  revival  of  the  belief  of  Christians,  and  to 
the  refreshment  of  their  fading  impressions  —  fading  be- 
cause in  their  original  state  superstitious  and  exaggerat- 
ed, —  should  this  take  place  in  connexion  with  a  better 
understood  theory  of  intellectual  existence,  very  impor- 
tant consequences  might  be  the  result ;  and  all  religious 
minds,  awakened  to  a  sense  of  the  simple  reality  of  the 
spiritual  dangers  we  are  exposed  to,  as  tenants  of  this 
haunted  planet,  would  be  impelled,  with  undiverted  anx- 
iety, to  seek  safety  where  always  it  is  to  be  found. 

But  we  must  return  upon  our  path  for  a  moment,  and 
briefly  state  the  bearing  of  this  branch  of  our  general 
theory  upon  the  notions  we  may  entertain  concerning  the 
condition  of  the  human  soul  upon  the  dissolution  of  the 
animal  structure  ;  and  concerning  the  state  of  that  vast 
congregation  which  has  been  swelling  with  its  thousands 
daily,  during  the  course  of  nearly  sixty  centuries. 

The  belief  of  the  survivance  of  the  living  principle  and 
consciousness,  after  the  dissolution  of  the  animal  organi- 
zation, the  author,  for  his  own  part,  would  always  derive 


PHYSICAL   THEORY 

from  those  moral  and  religious  considerations,  and  from 
that  explicit  divine  testimony  which  appeal  to  our  highest 
and  purest  sentiments.  As  to  the  pretended  demonstra- 
tion of  immortality,  drawn  from  the  assumed  simplicity 
and  indestructibility  of  the  soul,  as  an  immaterial  sub- 
stance, they  appear  either  altogether  inconclusive,  or  if 
conclusive,  then  such  as  must  be  admitted  to  apply,  with 
scarcely  diminished  force,  to  all  sentient  orders ;  and  it 
must  be  granted  that  whatever  has  felt,  and  has  acted 
spontaneously,  must  live  again  and  for  ever.  We  have 
the  best  reasons  for  the  confident  expectation  of  another 
life;  nor  are  in  any  need  to  fortify  our  convictions  by  ar- 
guments which,  if  valid,  prove  immensely  more  than  we 
can  desire  to  see  established,  or  could  persuade  ourselves 
to  think  in  any  degree  probable. 

There  is  not  in  the  structure,  or  the  instincts,  or  the 
tendencies  of  any  one  of  the  inferior  animal  species,  the 
faintest  indication  of  a  renewal  of  life,  after  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  vital  principle.  But  it  is  altogether  otherwise 
with  man ;  and  we  believe  him  immortal,  not  because,  as 
it  is  pretended,  thought  and  consciousness  cannot  be  an- 
nihilated ;  but  because  the  intellectual  and  moral  struc- 
tures imply  an  after  stage  of  expansion. 

This  then,  on  higher  grounds,  granted  as  certain,  that 
man  is  to  survive  his  animal  body,  it  is  not  difficult,  in 
following  out  the  several  principles  of  our  physical  theo- 
ry of  another  life,  to  conceive  of  an  instantaneous  tran- 
sition of  the  conscious  principle  —  the  LIFE,  from  the 
animal  body  to  a  body  impalpable  and  invisible;  and  yet 
not  less  alive  to  the  material  world,  but  probably  more  so. 
The  evidence  of  the  inspired  writings  apart,  it  might  easi- 
ly be  supposed  that  the  human  mind,  at  death,  immediate- 
ly enters  upon  its  highest  and  ultimate  stage  of  spiritual 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  223 

corporeity.  But  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  assume  so  much 
as  this  if  the  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament  on  this  sub- 
ject be  rightly  understood,  for  it  directs  us  to  look  for- 
ward to  a  future  and  distant  epoch,  as  the  destined  day  in 
which  human  nature  is  to  put  on  corporeal  incorruptibili- 
ty ;  and  we  are  also  taught  to  think  of  the  state  of  souls, 
as  a  state,  not  of  unconsciousness  indeed,  but  of  com- 
parative inaction,  or  suspended  energy  :  —  it  is,  so  far  as 
we  may  gather  its  conditions  from  the  scattered  intima- 
tions of  scripture,  a  transition  state,  during  the  continu- 
ance of  which  the  passive  faculties  of  our  nature,  rather 
than  the  active,  are  awake ;  and  throughout  which,  pro- 
bably, those  emotions  of  the  moral  nature  that  have  been 
overborne,  or  held  in  abeyance,  by  the  urgent  impulses 
of  animal  life,  shall  take  their  free  course,  and  reach  their 
height,  as  fixed  habits  of  the  mind. 

On  this  supposition  then,  if  it  ought  to  be  called  a  sup- 
position, which  rests  with  little  ambiguity  upon  scriptural 
evidence,  it  is  plain  that  a  more  attenuated  corporeity 
may  be  held  to  belong  to  the  intermediate  and  transition 
state  of  human  nature,  than  shall  befit  its  ultimate  condi- 
tion of  full  energy  and  activity.  Powers  latent  will  not 
need  a  structure  which  has  relation  to  the  exertion  of 
powers  upon  an' exterior  world.  The  chrysalis  period  of 
the  soul  may  be  marked  by  the  destitution  of  all  the  in- 
struments of  active  life,  corporeal  and  mental.  And  this 
state  of  inaction  may  probably  be  also  a  state  of  seclu- 
sion, involving  perhaps,  an  unconsciousness  of  the  pas- 
sage of  time. 

Suggestions  such  as  these  should  be  made  no  other  use 
of  than  that  of  preparing  us  to  catch,  at  all  points,  the 
evanescent  indications  of  the  inspired  writers,  which,  in 
relation  to  the  spiritual  and  unseen  world,  is  so  given  as 


224  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

entirely  to  escape  the  notice  of  those  who  listlessly  read 
what  they  have  been  reading  from  childhood,  under  the 
guidance  of  notions  accidentally  formed.  It  is  not  until 
the  mind  has  been  quickened  by  an  intelligent  curiosity,  and 
has  obtained  also  more  than  one  clue  to  inquiry,  by  the 
aid  of  hypothesis,  that  the  actual  extent  to  which  the  un- 
seen world  is  opened  to  us  in  the  scriptures,  is  suspected 
or  understood.  Let  an  hypothesis  be  utterly  at  variance 
with  truth,  it  will  yet  have  rendered  us  an  important  ser- 
vice —  and  a  legitimate  service,  if  it  shall  have  prompted 
us  to  pursue,  assiduously,  and  eagerly,  any  path  of  bibli- 
cal inquiry.  It  is  on  this  very  ground  that  the  author 
would  seek  an  apology  for  advancing  the  several  conjec- 
tures that  have  found  a  place  in  these  pages. 

A  condition  of  suspended  powers,  and  of  destitution, 
such  as  we  now  attribute  to  the  human  soul,  through  its 
intermediate  period,  may  very  naturally  be  imagined  to 
involve  a  vague,  or  perhaps  a  strong  and  definite,  tenden- 
cy, or  appetency  toward  the  open  world  of  power  and  ac- 
tion :  —  there  may  be  a  yearning  after  the  lost  corporeity, 
or  after  the  expected  corporeity  :  —  there  may  be  a  pres- 
sing on  toward  the  frequented  walks  of  active  existence. 
Now  let  it  be  just  imagined  that,  as  almost  all  natural  prin- 
ciples and  modes  of  life  are  open  to  some  degree  of  irreg- 
ularity, and  admit  exceptive  cases,  so  this  pressure  of  the 
vast  community  of  the  dead,  toward  the  precincts  of  life, 
may,  in  certain  cases,  actually  break  the  boundaries  that 
hem  in  the  ethereal  crowds,  and  that  thus,  as  if  by  acci- 
dent and  trespass,  the  dead  may  in  single  instances  in- 
fringe upon  the  ground  of  common  corporeal  life. 

At  least  let  indulgence  be  given  to  the  opinion  that 
those  almost  universal  superstitions  which,  in  every  age 


OP     ANOTHER     LIFE.  225 

and  nation,  have  implied  the  fact  of  occasional  interfer- 
ences of  the  dead  with  the  living,  ought  not  to  be  sum- 
marily dismissed  as  a  mere  folly  of  the  vulgar,  utterly 
unreal,  until  our  knowledge  of  the  spiritual  world  is  so 
complete  as  shall  entitle  us  to  affirm  that  no  such  inter- 
ferences can,  in  the  nature  of  things,  ever  have  taken 
place.  The  supposition  of  there  being  a  universal  per- 
suasion, totally  groundless,  not  only  in  its  form  and  ad- 
juncts, but  in  its  substance,  does  violence  to  the  principles 
of  human  reasoning,  and  clearly  is  of  dangerous  conse- 
quence. An  absolute  skepticism  on  this  subject,  more- 
over, can  be  maintained  only  by  the  aid  of  Hume's  often 
refuted  sophism  —  That  no  testimony  can  be  held  suffi- 
cient to  establish  an  alleged  fact,  at  variance  with  com- 
mon experience ;  for  it  must  not  be  denied  that  some  few 
instances  of  the  sort  alluded  to,  rest  upon  testimony  in 
itself  thoroughly  unimpeachable  ;  nor  is  the  import  of  the 
evidence  in  these  cases  at  all  touched  by  the  now  well 
understood  doctrine  concerning  spectral  illusions,  as  re- 
sulting from  a  diseased  condition  of  the  brain.  There 
is  a  species  of  disbelief,  flattering  indeed  to  vulgar  intel- 
lectual arrogance,  but  out  of  harmony  with  the  spirit  and 
the  admitted  rules  of  modern  philosophy.  Whether  such 
and  such  alleged  facts  happen  to  come  to  us  mingled  with 
gross  popular  errors,  or  not,  is  of  little  importance  in  de- 
termining the  degree  of  attention  they  may  deserve  :  — 
one  question  only  is  to  be  considered,  namely  —  Is  the 
evidence  that  sustains  them  in  any  degree  substantial  ? 
Nor  in  considering  questions  of  this  sort  ought  we  to 
listen  for  a  moment  to  those  frequent,  but  impertinent 
questions,  that  are  brought  forward  with  the  view  of  su- 
perseding the  inquiry ;  —  such  for  example,  as  these  — 
What  good  end  is  answered  by  the  alleged  extra  natural 
20 


226  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

occurrences  ?  —  or,  Is  it  worthy  of  the  Supreme  Wisdom 
to  permit  them  ?  and  so  forth.     The  question  is  a  ques- 
tion first,  of  testimony,  to  be  judged  of  on  the  establish- 
ed principles  of  evidence  ;  and  then  of  physiology ;  not 
of  theology,  or  of  morals.     Some  few  human  beings  are 
wont  to  walk  in  their  sleep,  and  during  the  continuance 
of  profound  slumber  perform,  with  precision  and  safety, 
the  offices  of  common  life,  and  return  to  their  beds,  and 
yet  are  totally  unconscious,  when  they  awake,  of  what 
they  have  done.     Now  in  considering  this,  or  any  such 
extraordinary  class  of  facts,  our  business  is,  in  the  first 
place,  to  obtain  a  number  of  instances,  supported  by  the 
distinct  and  unimpeachable  testimony  of  intelligent  wit- 
nesses ;  and  then,  being  thus  in  possession  of  the  facts, 
to  adjust  them,  so  far  as  we  can,  to  other  parts  of  our 
philosophy  of  human  nature.     Shall  we  allow  an  objec- 
tor to  put  a  check  to  our  scientific  curiosity,  on  the  sub- 
ject, for  instance,  of  somnambulism,  by  saying,  "  Scores 
of  these  accounts  have  turned  out  to  be  exaggerated,  or 
totally  untrue  :"  —  or,  "  This  walking  in  the  sleep  ought 
not  to  be  thought  possible,  or  as  likely  to  be  permitted  by 
the  Benevolent  Guardian  of  human  welfare  ?" 

Almost  all  instances  of  alleged  supernatural  APPEAR- 
ANCES may  easily  be  disposed  of,  either  on  the  ground 
of  the  fears  and  superstitious  impressions  of  the  parties 
reporting  them  ;  or  on  that  of  the  now  well  understood 
diseased  action  of  the  nervous  system,  which,  in  certain 
conditions,  generates  visual  illusions  of  the  most  distinct 
kind.  But  no  such  explanation  will  meet  the  many  in- 
stances, thoroughly  well  attested,  in  which  the  death  of 
a  relative,  at  a  distance,  has  been  conveyed,  in  all  its 
circumstances,  to  persons  during  sleep ;  nor  again  to 
those  instances  in  which  some  special  information,  bu- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  227 

ried  in  the  bosoms  of  the  dead,  has  been  imparted,  in 
sleep,  to  the  living.  In  these  cases  the  singularity  of  the 
facts  conveyed,  and  the  impossibility  of  their  coming 
through  any  ordinary  channel,  ought,  on  every  principle 
of  philosophy,  and  of  evidence,  to  be  admitted  as  fur- 
nishing proper  proof  of  an  invisible  interference.  The 
time  will  come  when,  —  in  consequence  of  the  total  dis- 
sipation of  popular  superstitions,  and  the  removal  too  of 
the  prejudice  which  makes  us  ashamed  of  seeming  to 
believe  in  company  with  the  vulgar,  or  to  believe  at  the 
prompting  of  fear — it  will  be  seen  that  facts  of  this  class 
ought  to  engage  the  attention  of  physiologists,  and  when 
they  will  be  consigned  to  their  place  in  our  systems  of 
the  philosophy  of  human  nature.  Notwithstanding  pre- 
judices of  all  sorts  —  vulgar  and  philosophic,  facts  of 
whatever  class,  and  of  whatever  tendency,  will  at  length 
receive  their  due  regard,  as  the  materials  of  science ; 
and  the  era  may  be  predicted  in  which  a  complete  re- 
action shall  take  its  course,  and  the  true  principles  of 
reasoning  be  made  to  embrace  a  vastly  wider  field  than 
that  which  may  be  measured  by  the  human  hand  and 
eye.  A  reaction  of  this  kind  is  likely  to  be  set  in  pro- 
gress, or  to  be  accelerated,  by  the  making  some  bold 
conjectural  excursions  beyond  the  range  of  animal  sen- 
sation j  the  consequence  of  which  may  be  —  not  indeed 
the  adoption  of  any  of  those  particular  conjectures,  as 
true ;  but  the  concentration  of  philosophic  minds  upon 
the  facts  and  the  evidence,  that  actually  come  within  our 
range  of  observation. 

Without  entering  upon  the  field  of  biblical  criticism, 
which  the  author,  in  this  essay,  purposely  avoids,  it 
would  not  be  possible  to  bring,  satisfactorily,  into  rela- 


228  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

tion  with  our  theory,  the  scripture  testimony  concerning 
invisible  orders.  There  is  however  a  particular  branch 
of  that  testimony  to  which  allusion  may  be  made ;  name- 
ly, that  which  concerns  dsemoniacal  possession.  Not 
able  in  this  place  to  engage  in  the  argument  as  a  biblical 
question,  the  author  assumes,  what  he  fully  believes 
may  be  made  good,  that  the  gospel  narratives,  in  these 
instances,  are  of  a  kind  not  to  be  disposed  of  by  the  hy- 
pothesis of  accommodation ;  but  are  of  an  historical 
complexion,  such  as  that  if  they  are  rejected  as  untrue, 
we  are  bound  to  withdraw  our  confidence  altogether 
from  the  reporters,  as  competent  and  trustworthy  wit- 
nesses of  facts. 

Taking  it  then  for  granted  that  these  narratives  act- 
ually involve  what  they  seem  to  involve,  and  that  they 
imply  something  totally  different  from  all  cases  of  lunacy, 
madness,  or  delirium,  we  then  come  into  possession  of 
several  highly  significant  facts,  concerning  a  species  or 
order  of  mundane  beings,  whom,  unless  there  be  evi- 
dence to  that  effect,  we  are  not  to  identify  with  the 
human  race,  and  whom  we  are  taught,  by  the  careful 
phraseology  of  the  inspired  writers,  not  to  confound  with 
the  fallen  angelic  orders — the  colleagues  and  compan- 
ions of  Satan. 

The  leading  ideas  suggested  by  these  narratives  are 
such  as  the  following,  and  they  comport  well  with  the 
conjectures  we  have  entertained  in  the  preceding  pages. 
—  First,  there  is  the  familiar  and  ready  intermixture 
of  invisible  and  impalpable  beings,  with  human  society  ; 
so  that,  within  any  given  boundary,  there  may  be  corpo- 
really present,  the  human  crowd,  and  the  extra-human 
crowd ;  and  the  latter  as  naturally  and  simply  present, 
as  the  former; — the  latter  as  vividly  conscious  of  the 


Off  TEfi 

OTITIESIT 

OP     ANOTHER     LI  F^fc.    j^  229 

AV       > 

material  world  as  the  former,  and 
prompted  by  interests,  and  passions,  by  desires,  and 
fears.  Secondly,  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  these  beings 
had  not,  as  it  seems,  the  physical  power  to  make  them- 
selves heard,  or  to  give  any  mechanical  evidence  of  their 
presence,  except  while  occupying,  or  invading,  the  ani- 
mal corporeity  of  another  species,  namely  the  human. 
Thirdly,  these  possessions  give  evidence  of  a  principle 
we  have  above  conjecturally  spoken  of,  namely,  the 
yearning,  or  appetency  of  invisible  and  ethereal  natures 
towards  animal  organization.  It  would  seem  as  if,  du- 
ring that  era  in  the  history  of  man  in  which  such  irregu- 
larities were  permitted,  that  the  spiritual  species  eagerly 
caught  at  every  opportunity  of  tenanting  the  terrestrial 
species.  In  the  fourth  place,  we  cannot  but  note,  what 
is  not  obscure  in  its  expression,  however  obscure  it  may 
be  in  its  import,  namely,  the  horror  of  these  daemons  at 
the  thought  of  being  consigned  to  the  nether  cavern,  or 
abyss.  Lastly,  the  highly  significant  effect  of  the  add- 
ing of  mind  to  mind,  within  one  and  the  same  body,  is  to 
be  especially  noticed.  This  temporary  compounding  of 
intelligences,  which  (were  it  allowable  on  so  unusual  an 
occasion  to  coin  a  term)  might  be  called,  a  state  of  men- 
tal superentity,  discovers  itself  by  multiplying  the  me- 
chanical force  of  the  muscular  system  ;  and  as  it  seems, 
in  some  proportion  to  the  actual  numbers  of  the  foreign 
minds.  The  inherent  power  of  mind  over  matter,  to 
generate  motion,  was,  in  these  instances,  we  might  al- 
most say,  mathematically  exhibited,  by  showing  the  ac- 
cumulated force  of  several  minds,  acting  as  in  a  focus, 
upon  a  single  muscular  mechanism. 

Whoever  finds  himself  obliged,  by  the  principles  of 
sound  criticism  and  interpretation,  to  consider  the  gospel 
20* 


230  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

narratives  of  dsemoniacal  possessions  as  simply  true, 
will  find  that  these  extraordinary  instances,  differing  in 
every  sense  from  the  satanic  seductive  influence  else- 
where affirmed  in  scripture,  involve  and  imply  every 
principle  that  has  been  assumed  in  the  conjectures  pro- 
pounded in  the  present  chapter.  We  should  all,  assur- 
edly, admit  that  one  well  attested  and  distinctly  reported 
instance  of  the  presence  and  intelligent  agency  of  an 
invisible  being,  would  be  enough  to  carry  the  question  of 
an  invisible  economy,  pervading  the  visible  universe. 
Are  then  the  gospel  narratives  well  attested,  and  are  the 
circumstances  simply  and  distinctly  reported?  If  so, 
they  furnish  us  with  all  we  want  for  the  determination  of 
the  general  question. 

The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  the  important  distinction, 
already  adverted  to,  between  the  satanic  influence,  and 
the  dsemoniacal  possessions ;  the  one  being  purely  moral 
and  spiritual,  and  applying  also  universally  to  human 
nature,  and  being  in  no  case,  and  in  no  sense,  naturally 
sensible,  or  visible,  or  distinguishable  from  the  ordinary 
workings  of  the  moral  faculties.  The  other  on  the  con- 
trary was,  in  an  equally  exclusive  sense,  purely  physical, 
or  natural,  and  always  made  itself  known  by  visible  and 
palpable  effects,  and  was  confined  to  individuals,  and 
came  within  the  range  of  history,  as  matter  of  fact,  in 
the  most  ordinary  sense  of  the  phrase.  Happily  we 
have  reason  to  conclude  that  human  nature  is  no  longer 
liable  to  the  ruffian  violence  of  an  impure  and  reprobate 
ethereal  race ;  but  alas  !  we  have  the  strongest  reasons 
for  believing  that  men,  universally,  and  in  every  age, 
are  exposed  to  silent  malignant  seductions,  which  in- 
deed never  trench  upon  the  natural  liberty  of  the  mind, 
much  less  infringe  that  of  the  body ;  but  which  too  often, 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE.  231 

like  the  influence  of  profligate  companions,  prevails  over 
the  better  principles  of  our  nature. 

In  dismissing  our  first  conjecture,  concerning  the 
visible  universe,  considered  as  the  abode  of  intelligent 
orders,  we  lightly  dealt  with  it,  as  a  conjecture  merely, 
which  might  be  entertained  or  rejected,  at  pleasure. 
But  we  are  not  free  to  treat  with  equal  unconcern  the 
general  principles  involved  in  this  our  second  hypothesis ; 
for  although  every  thing  adjunctive  or  special  in  our 
speculations  maybe  unreal,  these  principles,  if  adjudged 
to  be  false,  are  such  as  must  carry  with  them  a  large 
portion  of  our  Christian  faith ;  and  the  surrender  of  them 
would  leave  us  in  possession  of  only  the  bare  skeleton 
of  religious  belief. 


232  P  H  Y  S  I  C  A  L     T  H  E  O  R  Y 


CHAPTER   XYIII. 

THE    THIRD    CONJECTURE. 

IN  our  first  conjecture  it  was  supposed  that  room 
might  be  made  for  the  several  ranks  of  being  —  whether 
animal  or  spiritual,  within  the  bounds,  and  upon  the 
stage  of  the  visible  universe.  The  second,  involved 
the  belief  of  an  invisible  economy,  suffused  throughout 
the  visible  creation,  and  constituting  that  higher  system 
toward  which  the  rational  orders  of  the  lower  and  visible 
world  are  tending.  But  our  third  conjecture  embraces 
the  remote  revolutions  of  Time,  and  supposes  (without 
however  denying,  what  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  deny, 
namely,  the  reality  of  an  unseen  spiritual  economy)  that 
the  visible  universe,  replete  every  where  with  various 
forms  of  animal  life,  is  to  fill  one  period  only  in  the  great 
history  of  the  moral  system,  and  that  it  is  destined,  in  a 
moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  to  disappear,  and  to 
return  to  its  nihility,  giving  place  to  new  elements,  and 
to  new  and  higher  expressions  of  omnipotence  and  in- 
telligence. 

For  this,  our  third  conjecture,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
find  a  form  of  expression  more  distinct,  than  that  sup- 
plied by  certain  well  known  passages  of  scripture,  which, 
whether  to  be  understood  literally,  or  in  a  tropical  sense 
only,  yet  may  well  serve  to  convey  our  present  idea  of 
an  instantaneous  vanishing  of  one  form  of  the  creation, 
and  the  substitution  of  another ;  as  thus  —  "  The  heav- 


, 

OF   ANOTHER    LIFE. 

ens  and  the  earth  —  they  shall  perish ;  all  of  them  shall 
wax  old  like  a  garment ;  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  change 
them,  and  they  shall  be  changed."  "  And  all  the  host 
of  heaven  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  heavens  shall  be 
rolled  together  as  a  scroll,  and  all  their  host  shall  fall 
down,  as  the  leaf  falleth  off  from  the  vine,  arid  as  a 
falling  fig  from  the  fig-tree."  "  Lift  up  your  eyes  to 
the  heavens,  and  look  upon  the  earth  beneath,  for  the 
heavens  shall  vanish  away  like  smoke,  and  the  earth 
shall  wax  old  like  a  garment."  "  Behold,  I  create  new 
heavens,  and  a  new  earth,  and  the  former  shall  not  be 
remembered,  nor  come  into  mind ;  and  the  new  heavens 
and  the  new  earth  shall  remain  before  me,  saith  the 
Lord."  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my 
word  shall  not  pass  away."  "  The  day  of  the  Lord 
shall  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night,  in  the  which  the  heav- 
ens shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise ;  nevertheless, 
we  look  for  a  new  heavens,  and  a  new  earth."  "  And 
from  the  face  of  Him  that  sat  on  the  throne  the  earth 
and  the  heaven  fled  away,  and  there  was  found  no  place 
for  them."  "  Behold,  I  create  all  things  new !" 

Now  it  may  seem  that,  with  predictions  such  as  these 
before  us,  there  can  be  no  room  to  speak  conjtcturally 
of  the  destiny  of  the  material  universe,  or  of  the  new 
creation ;  and  an  explanation  may  properly  be  demanded 
of  the  sense  in  which  that  is  treated  of  as  uncertain, 
which  appears  to  be  distinctly  affirmed  in  so  many  places 
of  scripture.  Let  it  then,  in  the  first  place,  be  observed, 
that  as  the  author,  in  the  present  essay,  abstains  entirely 
from  biblical  interpretation,  he  is  not  entitled  to  under- 
stand the  passages  quoted  above,  in  a  literal  and  uni- 
versal sense,  apart  from  that  sort  of  inquiry  concerning 
the  meaning  of  phrases,  and  the  import  of  the  context, 


234  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

which  may  fully  justify  the  belief  that  they  ought  so  to 
be  understood.  The  theologian,  perhaps,  would  refuse 
assent  to  a  literal  and  unrestricted  interpretation  of  these 
predictions,  and  would  affirm  that  they  are  of  spiritual 
import  only,  or  are  applicable  simply  to  national  and  ec- 
clesiastical revolutions. 

Then  in  the  second  place  it  must  be  remembered 
that,  supposing  the  literal  and  universal  import  of  these 
passages  were  granted  to  us  by  the  biblical  interpreter, 
yet,  in  following  out  our  conceptions,  even  a  single  step 
beyond  a  bare  affirmation  of  the  fact,  we  tread  upon 
uncertain  ground,  that  is  to  say,  upon  the  ground  of  ana- 
logical reasoning,  not  upon  that  of  scripture  testimony ; 
and  nothing  can  be  much  more  important  than  always 
to  observe  the  broad  distinction  between  those  mere 
facts,  which  are  matters  of  religious  persuasion,  and 
those  enlargements  of  such  facts  which  may  be  the  fruit 
of  philosophical  speculation.  This  distinction  forgotten 
or  contemned,  and  then  philosophical  speculation  be- 
comes dangerous  and  pernicious  ;  —  remembered  and 
respected,  it  may  yield  us  a  service  not  to  be  spurned. 

Rejecting,  as  we  must,  every  modification  of  the 
atheistic  doctrine  concerning  the  eternity  of  the  material 
universe,  or  its  inherent  independence,  and  on  the  con- 
trary, viewing  it  as  nothing  more  than  the  product  of  the 
creative  will  and  power,  existing,  while  it  exists,  only  as 
a  means  to  an  end  beyond  itself,  we  then  gain  a  position 
whence  with  ease  we  may  contemplate  this  vast  and 
goodly  framework,  permanent  as  it  seems,  as  standing 
only  during  pleasure,  and  as  dissoluble,  in  any  moment, 
when  its  uses  are  fulfilled.  The  material  universe  has 
no  indefeasible  rights  —  has  no  inherent  claim  to  be 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  235 

perpetuated.  Nothing  abstract  would  be  compromised 
by  its  return  to  nihility.  If  it  be  a  stage  of  life  to  innu- 
merable species,  another  stage  of  life  may  come  in  its 
room  ;  or  if  an  admirable  exhibition  of  the  divine  power, 
wisdom,  and  goodness,  those  same  attributes  may  shine 
forth  with  still  more  clearness,  on  the  fields  of  the  new 
creation. 

But  our  natural  impressions,  or  physical  prejudices, 
offer  some  resistance  to  the  supposition  of  the  utter  and 
instantaneous  dissipation  of  the  solid  masses  of  the  ma- 
terial system  ;  and  it  is  only  by  doing  a  sort  of  violence 
to  the  mind,  that  such  an  idea  is  admitted.  And  yet 
those  who  distinctly  entertain  the  belief  of  the  creation 
of  matter  out  of  nothing,  ought  not  to  think  the  return  of 
this  same  matter  to  its  nothingness,  incredible.  We 
say  the  return  of  matter  to  its  nothingness  ought  not  to 
be  regarded  as  a  paradox,  even  when  matter  is  conceived 
of  according  to  our  ordinary  notions  of  it,  which  impute 
to  its  particles,  or  ultimate  atoms,  a  real,  impenetrable, 
and  indivisible,  and  insoluble  solidity.  For,  in  whatever 
manner  this  solidity  sprang  from  the  divine  will,  it  cannot 
be  greater  than  the  will  whence  it  sprang ;  nor  possess 
any  principle  of  permanence  not  dependant  upon  that 
will.  It  is  not  to  be  admitted  that  God  has  made  any 
thing  which,  once  existing,  exists  like  himself,  necessa- 
rily and  eternally. 

We  do  not  therefore  hold  it  to  be  at  all  requisite,  with 
the  view  of  making  way  for  our  present  conjecture,  to 
undermine  (if  we  might  so  speak)  the  reality  of  the  ma- 
terial world.  Let  it  be  as  real  and  solid  as  it  may,  it  is 
no  more  than  the  product  of  omnipotence,  and  possesses 
no  permanence,  irrespectively  of  omnipotence,  con- 
stantly in  act  to  sustain  it.  And  assuredly  we  should 


236  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

not  endeavour  to  shake  the  stability  of  the  visible  and 
palpable  universe  by  the  aid  of  the  metaphysical  hypoth- 
esis—  or  demonstration,  which  denies  its  reality,  and 
which  allows  nothing  to  exist  actually,  or  even  possibly, 
but  Mind. 

Metaphysical  skepticism  as  well  as  material  skepti- 
cism, renounced,  and  the  premises  laid  down,  that  the 
material  world,  conceived  of  according  to  our  natural 
impressions,  as  solid  and  (relatively)  indestructible, 
ought  yet  to  be  regarded  as  dissoluble  every  moment, 
by  the  sovereign  word  of  the  Creator;  this  admitted,  it 
may  yet  be  not  altogether  useless  to  analyse  a  little  our 
notions  of  matter,  and  to  follow  them  so  far  as  may 
serve  to  show  that  a  genuine  belief  in  the  reality  of  the 
external  world  may  consist  with  more  than  one  hypoth- 
esis concerning  its  occult  constitution. 

Between  the  idealism  of  Berkeley,  and  the  physical 
theory  of  Boscovich,  there  is  no  real  connexion,  or  af- 
finity ;  although,  popularly,  the  two  systems  may  seem 
to  amount  to  the  same  thing.  The  former  is  as  purely 
metaphysical,  as  the  latter  is  simply  physical :  the  one 
is  a  mere  adjustment  of  abstract  notions ;  the  latter  a 
statement  of  assumed  facts,  supported  by  reasons  and 
evidence  proper  to  a  scientific  argument ;  and  if  the  one 
hypothesis,  as  well  as  the  other,  leaves  every  thing 
where  it  found  it,  so  far  as  our  concernment  with  the 
external  world  is  involved,  yet  the  latter  may  actually 
promote  the  sciences  to  which  it  stands  related ;  while 
the  former  is,  in  every  sense,  a  barren  speculation. 

In  propounding  his  conjectures  concerning  the  occult 
constitution  of  matter,  the  author  would  deem  it  an  in- 
excusable omission  not  to  have  alluded  to  the  "  Theoria 
Philosophise  Naturalis,"  of  Boscovich;  and  yet  in  doing 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  237 

so,  he  must  not  be  understood  either  as  entirely  adopt- 
ing the  principles  of  that  ingenious  writer,  or  as  pre- 
tending to  interpret  his  system.  In  fact,  notions  similar 
to  those  so  ably  maintained  by  Boscovich,  can  hardly 
have  failed  to  present  themselves  to  all  minds  accus- 
tomed to  pursue  abstruse  speculations  ;  and  every  such 
mind  will  give  to  them  a  modification  of  its  own. 

Our  acquaintance  with  matter,  as  every  one  knows, 
is  nothing  more  than  an  acquaintance  with  its  properties; 
or  rather  with  those  of  its  powers  which  affect  our 
senses.  But  these  properties  of  matter  resolve  them- 
selves into  so  many  species  of  motion — emanative,  or 
vibratory,  and  the  motion  implied  in  chemical  combi- 
nation. The  resistance  offered  to  the  touch  by  solid 
bodies  may  seem  an  exception  to  this  statement ;  but  it 
is  not  so  in  fact :  for  the  resistance  of  a  solid  surface  is 
nothing  but  a  propulsion  operating  within  the  minute 
sphere  of  that  atomic  force,  which  prevents  the  actual 
or  mathematical  contact  of  bodies.  We  know  solid 
bodies  therefore,  only  by  the  rebound,  which  prohibits 
approximation  within  a  certain  limit.  It  is  then  a 
species  of  motion  that  conveys  to  us  the  idea  of  solidity. 

In  other  words,  for  sustaining  all  the  phenomena  of 
the  material  world,  mechanical  and  chemical,  we  need 
suppose  nothing  more  than  an  infinite  congeries  of  math- 
ematical points  of  attraction  and  repulsion  —  attraction 
and  repulsion  of  several  kinds.  This  supposition  fully 
answers  all  the  purposes  that  are  answered  by  the  notion 
of  hard  indivisible  atoms.  That  which  is  superadded 
to  the  idea  of  a  centre  of  attraction  and  repulsion,  in 
order  to  bring  it  up  to  the  notion  of  a  solid  atom,  adds 
absolutely  nothing  serviceable  to  the  idea,  or  perhaps 
21 


233  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

intelligible;  and  is  altogether  superfluous.  The  hard 
ultimate  atom  does  nothing  which  the  mathematical 
centre  will  not  do.  But  these  infinite  centres  are  only 
starting  points  of  motion  —  motion  in  several  directions, 
or  motion  of  several  species. 

It  only  remains  then  to  bring  this  idea  of  the  material 
world  into  connexion  with  the  principle  that  motion,  in 
all  cases,  originates  from  mind  ;  or  in  other  words,  is  the 
effect  of  will ; —  either  the  Supreme  will,  or  the  will  of 
created  minds.  Motion  is  either  constant  and  uniform, 
obeying  what  we  call  a  law,  or  it  is  incidental.  The  visi- 
ble and  palpable  world  then,  according  to  this  theory,  is 
MOTION,  constant  and  uniform,  emanating  from  infinite 
centres,  and  springing,  during  every  instant  of  its  contin- 
uance, from  the  Creative  Energy. 

The  instantaneous  cessation  of  this  energy,  or  its 
reaching  its  close,  is  therefore,  abstractedly,  quite  as  easily 
conceived  of  as  is  its  continuance  ;  and  whether,  in  the 
next  instant,  it  shall  continue,  or  shall  cease,  whether  the 
material  universe  shall  stand,  or  shall  vanish,  is  an  alter- 
native of  which,  irrespective  of  other  reasons,  the  one 
member  may  be  taken  as  easily  as  the  other :  just  as  the 
moving  of  the  hand,  or  the  not  moving  it,  in  the  next  mo- 
ment, depends  upon  nothing  but  our  volition.  The  an- 
nihilation of  the  solid  spheres  —  the  planets,  and  the 
suns,  that  occupy  the  celestial  spaces,  would  not  be  an 
act  of  irresistible  force,  crushing  that  which  resists  com- 
pression, or  dissipating  and  reducing  to  an  ether  that 
which  firmly  coheres  ;  but  it  would  be  the  non-exertion, 
in  the  next  instant,  of  a  power  which  has  been  exerted  in 
this  instant :  —  it  would  be,  not  a  destruction,  but  a  rest ; 
not  a  crash  and  ruin,  but  a  pause. 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  239 

Yet  as  we  have  already  said,  the  supposition  of  the  in- 
stantaneous vanishing  of  the  present  material  universe, 
is  not  at  all  dependent  upon  the  theory  which  supposes 
matter  to  be  constituted  of  several  species  of  motion, 
springing  constantly  from  an  infinitude  of  points.  And 
indeed,  dismissing  this  theory,  the  destiny  of  the  celes- 
tial mechanism  might  be  inferred,  with  some  degree  of 
probability,  from  the  data  of  facts  now  generally  admitted. 
Thus,  for  example,  if  an  ether,  a  resisting  medium  is 
diffused  through  space,  a  medium  which,  rare  as  it  may 
be,  is  dense  enough  to  deduct  something  in  each  revolu- 
tion, from  the  onward  force  of  comets,  and  so  to  accelerate 
their  revolutions,  and  to  dimish  their  orbits,  the  same  re- 
tarding, yet  accelerating  power,  must  be  in  operation  also 
upon  the  planets  :  so  that  the  entire  system  is  winding  wp, 
and  is  slowly  in  progress  toward  that  consummation  which 
the  inspired  writers  speak  of  as  a  "  rolling  up  the  heavens 
like  a  scroll."  If  such  be  the  actual  and  inevitable  ten- 
dency of  the  planetary  economy,  we  may  suppose  that  the 
dire  catastrophe  will  be  anticipated  by  an  instantaneous 
changing  of  the  things  that  are  "seen  and  temporal, "and  an 
introducing  of  the  things  that  are  "  not  seen  and  eternal." 

In  connexion  with  our  present  conjecture  we  ought  to 
consider  what  is  that  all-pervading  principle  which  is  the 
characteristic  of  the  present  material  system  ;  or  at  least 
of  so  much  of  it  as  comes  within  our  means  of  know- 
ledge —  and  it  is  this,  namely,  That  the  constitution  of 
nature  includes  the  collision  of  unlike  and  unequal  forces, 
so  acting  one  upon  another,  as  that  the  whole  can  sub- 
sist and  preserve  its  form  only  by  running  round  a  per- 
petual circle  of  combination  and  decomposition,  of  or- 
ganization and  dissolution.  In  no  department  of  nature, 
within  our  observation,  is  there,  or  can  there  be,  a  state 


240 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 


of  absolute  rest ;  for  those  elements  which  have  reached 
a  condition  of  repose,  by  perfect  combination,  and  which, 
left  to  themselves,  might  enjoy  that  repose,  are  inces- 
santly acted  upon  by  other  elements,  which,  though  they 
by  themselves  might  also  rest,  cannot  rest  in  juxta  posi- 
tion with  any  compound,  but  must  decompose  it.  Thus 
it  is  that  the  most  solid  masses  are  giving  way,  slowly 
perhaps,  to  decomposition,  or  to  a  change  of  chemical 
form  ;  while  the  less  solid,  or  the  more  exposed  masses, 
are  rapidly  running  the  round  of  their  solid,  fluid,  and 
gaseous  states  ;  —  yielding  up  their,  constituents,  to  be 
consorted  in  some  totally  different  manner.  And  thus 
too,  the  powers  of  life,  vegetable  and  animal,  which, 
within  so  many  thousand  fixed  types,  are  perpetually 
gathering  to  themselves  the  crude  elements,  are  also, 
without  a  moment's  pause,  passing  on  toward  their  stage 
of  decay  and  dissolution.  The  balance  offerees,  in  the 
material  world,  is  of  that  kind  which  can  be  perpetuated 
only  by  incessant  revolutions  and  transitions ;  as  we  keep 
a  pole  perpendicularly  on  the  finger, by  giving  it  a  rotation. 
But  there  certainly  comes  within  the  range  of  our  ab- 
stract notions  of  what  is  possible,  another  sort  of  coun- 
terpoise, namely,  one  in  which  either  equal  forces  should 
be  balanced,  or  unequal  forces  balanced  on  a  principle  of 
adjustment,  such  as  should  involve  no  inequality.  In  the 
actual  world,  light,  heat,  and  electricity  (to  look  no  fur- 
ther) as  they  are  susceptible  of  a  latent,  or  a  less  active 
state,  as  well  as  of  a  state  of  irresistible  energy,  and  as, 
during  their  latent  state,  they  are  embedded  in  the  inert 
and  dissoluble  masses,  formed  by  the  ponderable  ele- 
ments, it  must  happen  that,  as  often  as  they  pass  from 
the  latent  to  the  active  state,  these  masses  are  either  de- 
composed, or  to  some  extent  affected.  But  instead  of 


OF      ANOTHER     LIFE.  241 

this,  it  is  surely  conceivable,  either  that  the  energetic 
principles,  such  as  light,  heat,  electricity,  should  be  ex- 
cluded from  a  latent  combination  with  the  inert  elements; 
or  that  they  should  not  leave  that  state,  and  that  the  inert 
should  retain  what  they  possess,  unalterably.  In  such  a 
constitution  of  elements  there  could,  as  it  seems,  be  no 
formations,  no  transitions,  no  growth,  and  no  decay — no 
death.  A  world  so  constituted,  would  be,  during  the 
sovereign  pleasure  of  the  Creator,  unchangeable  and  eter- 
nal ;  or  if  it  were  allowable  to  apply  to  the  physical  world, 
inspired  language,  intended  probably  to  apply  only  to  the 
spiritual  world,  the  scheme  of  things  we  have  imagined 
might  be  described  as  "  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  not 
fading  away." 

Such,  as  we  suppose,  must  be  the  consequence  of  es- 
tablishing a  real  counterpoise  between  the  active  and  the 
inert  elements  of  the  material  world.  In  the  system 
around  us,  three  great  principles  are  reciprocating  their 
influences;  first,  the  inert  elements;  secondly,  the  active 
elements  —  light,  heat,  and  electricity,  which  however 
may  be  so  many  modifications  merely  of  one  element ; 
and  thirdly,  the  principle  of  life,  vegetable  and  animal, 
which  we  assume  to  be  nothing  else  but  MIND.  From 
the  interaction  of  the  two  former,  results  the  circle  of 
changes  whithin  which  all  bodies  are  revolving,  through 
their  solid,  fluid,  and  gaseous  states.  From  the  action 
of  the  third  upon  the  first  and  second,  results  organiza- 
tion, with  its  functions  ;  but  organization,  in  combining 
these  two  unequal  forces,  submits  to  the  inevitable  con- 
dition of  that  combination,  and  begins  to  decay,  almost 
as  soon  it  reaches  its  perfection.  At  present,  the  prin- 
ciple of  life  seems  to  attach  itself  more  intimately  to  the 
inert  elements,  and  less  so  to  the  active  ;  and  therefore  it 
21* 


242  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

lies  exposed  to  all  the  power  of  the  one  over  the  other. 
But  let  the  principle  of  life  take  on  to  the  active  ele- 
ments— let  it,  itself  essentially  active, be  balanced  against 
the  active,  and  be  so  adjusted  therewith  as  to  form  a  per- 
manent combination,  and  then  life  might  continue  at  its 
point  of  rest  for  ever. 

Not  forgetting  the  caution,  once  and  again  mentioned, 
we  might  yet,  conditionally,  make  a  reference  to  those 
passages,  heretofore  quoted,  which  affirm  the  future  dis- 
solution of  the  material  world  by  fire  ;  and  assuming,  for 
a  moment,  the  literal  sense  of  those  predictions  (and  it 
is  not  proved  that  the  literal  sense  should  be  rejected) 
then  it  will  seem  to  be  intimated  that  the  unequal  and 
restless  counterpoise  which  has  so  long  subsisted  between 
light  and  heat  and  the  inert  elements,  shall  at  last  be  over- 
thrown ;  the  former  breaking  through  all  restraints,  and 
overcoming  the  latter,  and  so  overcoming  it  as  that  it 
shall  no  more  be  capable  of  retaining  the  active  force  in 
a  latent  state. 

But  the  principle  of  life  —  that  is  to  say,  Mind,  is  not 
dissoluble  by  any  other  principle ;  nor  can  it  give  way 
before  any  intensity  of  a  merely  material  energy;  and 
although  doubtless  dependent  upon  the  pleasure  of  the 
Creator,  and  immortal  only  by  his  will,  who  sustains  that 
which  he  has  produced  ;  yet  must  it  be  thoroughly  inde- 
pendent of  all  coexistent  and  inferior  forces  or  powers. 
We  may  at  once  be  sure,  on  the  one  hand,  that  if  life  will 
endure  only  so  long  as  He  shall  please  who  is  the  giver 
of  life  ;  and  on  the  other,  that  it  is  a  principle  standing  be- 
yond the  reach  of  all  other  forces,  and  inherently  superior 
to  every  other.  Let  then  the  material  universe  vanish, 
silent  and  unnoticed  as  a  dream  ;  or  let  it  melt  with  fer- 
vent heat,  and  pass  away,  as  in  a  painful  struggle  and  con- 


OF     ANOTHER     LI 

vulsion,  with  a  "  great  noise  ;  "  in  either 
rational  and  moral,  shall  emerge  from 
and  float  clear  and  untouched  above  the  terrors  and  the 
tempest  of  nature's  dying  day.  Mind  shall  shake  itself 
of  the  corruptible  and  dissoluble  elements,  and  shall  put 
on  incorruption :  it  shall  lay  down  the  dishonour  of  its 
union  with  the  inert  masses  of  the  material  world,  and 
put  on  the  glory  of  a  purely  active  and  uncompounded 
corporeity  ;  it  shall  take  leave  of  death,  and  be  clothed 
with  immortality. 

It  is  nothing  else  but  an  anticipation  of  this  rising  of 
the  mind  over  the  level  of  matter,  that  is  now  going  on 
within  the  human  system.  Mind,  in  its  first  stage  of 
combination  with  matter,  exercises  only  the  lowest  of  its 
faculties,  and  is  long  little  more  than  merely  passive ; 
but  it  gains  every  day  upon  the  conditions  of  animal  life, 
exerts  more  and  more  of  its  inherent  powers,  mechani- 
cal and  rational ;  and  at  length,  not  only  governs,  in  a 
spontaneous  manner,  its  immediate  body,  but  so  diverts 
and  controls  the  powers  of  the  material  world  as  'to 
make  itself,  in  a  sense,  master  of  nature,  and  to  serve 
itself  of  her  laws.  The  arts  of  life  are  precisely  so  many 
conquests  of  mind,  and  so  many  instances  of  the  yield- 
ing of  matter  to  the  pleasure  of  mind.  Again,  by  its 
powers  of  abstraction  the  most  abstruse  relations  of  the 
material  world  are  mastered  and  reduced  to  a  practical 
and  most  important  subserviency.  Then,  by  the  aid  of  these 
same  relations,  the  vastness  of  the  material  universe  is 
so  far  grasped,  by  our  methods  of  reasoning,  as  to  yield 
itself  in  degree  to  our  conceptions,  and  to  come  within 
the  range  of  our  calculations.  Man,  although  not  yet 
lord  of  the  visible  universe  as  an  adult,  is  lord  of  it  as  an 
heir ;  and  exercises  an  authority  becoming  the  minority 


244  PHYSICAL      T  H  E  O  R  Y 

of  one  for  whom  vast  possessions  are  in  reserve.  This 
is  not  the  language  of  empty  pretensions :  modern  sci- 
ence and  art  make  good,  in  detail,  all  that  is  here  af- 
firmed at  large. 

But  as  we  go  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  recessess  of 
our  nature,  and  duly  consider  the  dignity  and  the  pow- 
ers of  the  moral  life,  and  the  vast  compass  of  the  affec- 
tions, we  shall  feel,  in  far  greater  force,  the  truth  —  a 
truth  of  unbounded  import,  that  the  most  excellent  forms 
of  matter  are  as  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  worth 
and  destinies  of  the  spirit.  The  affections  of  the  spirit, 
and  their  power  of  intimate  communion  with  the  Infinite 
Spirit,  not  only  raise  the  mind  immeasurably  above  the 
level  of  the  visible  world,  and  carry  it  clear  of  the  fate 
of  that  world  ;  but  raise  it  even  above  the  range  of  the 
merely  intellectual  faculties,  so  that  a  state  may  be  con- 
ceived of  far  better  and  higher  than  that  of  the  highest 
exercise  of  reason. 

In  truth,  what  is  it  that  leads  us  to  attach  the  value 
we  do  attach  to  intellectual  labour  and  achievement  ]  — 
not  the  mere  practical  result  of  those  engagements  ;  nor 
the  mere  labour,  in  itself  considered  ;  but  the  EMOTION, 
the  sentiment,  and  the  moral  power,  connected  with  it, 
and  by  which  it  is  prompted,  animated,  and  rewarded. 
Within  the  entire  circle  of  our  intellectual  constitution 
we  value  nothing  but  emotion ;  —  it  is  not  the  powers, 
or  the  exercise  of  the  powers,  but  the  fruit  of  those 
powers,  in  so  much  feeling,  of  a  lofty  kind,  as  they  will 
yield.  Now  that  toward  which  we  are  constantly  tend- 
ing, os  our  goal,  —  that  which  we  rest  in  when  attained, 
as  sufficient,  —  it  is  that  which  shall  be  ultimate,  and 
shall  survive  whatever  has  been  mediate,  or  contributory, 
or  accessory.  Every  thing  short  of  the  affections  of  the 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  245 

soul  is  a  means  to  an  end,  and  must  have  its  season : 
it  is  temporary ;  but  the  affections  of  the  soul  are  the 
end  of  all,  and  they  are  eternal.  Let  the  universe  perish 
or  be  changed,  —  the  soul  shall  live. 


2 16  PHYSICAL     THEORY 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE    GENERAL    GROUND    OF    CONJECTURAL    REASONING 
CONCERING  WHAT   IS   UNSEEN   OR  FUTURE. 

The  suppositions  we  have  followed,  in  the  three  preced- 
ing chapters,  although  separable  and  independent,  are  not 
irreconcilable ;  but  on  the  contrary,  may  well  consist 
one  with  the  other,  or  may  each  be  true  in  part.  Thus 
it  may  be  the  fact  that  the  widely-dissimilar  physical 
condition  of  the  solar  and  the  planetary  surfaces,  as 
adapted  to  the  support  of  living  species,  may,  in  our  own 
system,  and  in  others,  constitute  a  ground  of  broad  dis- 
tinction as  to  the  modes  of  existence  severally  found 
there  ;  and  that  while  the  planetary  species,  of  all  ranks, 
are  necessarily  corruptible,  and  mortal,  and  are  perma- 
nent only  by  reproduction,  the  solar  species  may  enjoy 
an  individual  permanency ;  and  even  if  liable  to  trans- 
formations, may  yet  be  exempt  from  dissolution.  Or  if 
we  scrupled  to  admit  this  bold  conjecture,  in  its  whole 
extent,  yet  it  is  almost  impossible  to  resist  the  belief, 
first,  that  the  father- world  of  the  system,  itself  the  foun- 
tain of  light,  heat,  and  vital  energy,  is  vastly  more  than 
a  desert,  —  a  naked  and  terrible  wilderness  of  tempes- 
tuous combustion ;  and  secondly,  that,  if  actually  peo- 
pled with  various  orders,  the  physical  law  of  their  life  is 
more  excellent  than  that  which  prevails  in  the  planets. 
The  known  and  visible  physical  difference  between  the 
sun  and  the  planets,  goes  near  to  making  it  certain  that 


OF     ANOTHER      LIFE.  247 

the  powers  oflife  in  the  one,  must  be  more  steadily  ba- 
lanced where  stimulus  is  perpetual,  than  where  it  is  in- 
termittent. 

At  the  same  time,  and  while  it  is  supposed  that  palpa- 
ble and  visible  organization,  whether  mortal  or  immortal, 
makes  its  home  upon  the  surfaces  of  the  solar  and  pla- 
netary bodies,  it  may  be  quite  true  (nor  indeed,  without 
doing  violence  to  the  language  of  scripture  can  we 
believe  otherwise)  that  each  world,  of  every  system, 
includes,  or  is  surrounded  by,  invisible  orders,  of  seve- 
ral species,  ranks,  and  qualities ;  corporeal  indeed,  but 
imponderable,  and  attached  to  an  element  not  open  to 
cognizance  by  the  animal  senses.  This  belief,  consi- 
dered as  a  matter  of  philosophy,  and  not  of  religion  or 
faith,  needs  only  that  our  notions  of  the  corporeal  part  of 
the  mental  constitution  should  be  defined  and  cleared 
up  a  little  more,  and  it  would  then  take  its  place  among 
truths  imperfectly  known,  but  rationally  admitted ;  and 
it  might  receive  enlargement  and  confirmation  by  means 
of  a  more  exact  attention  to  innumerable  facts,  that  have 
been  suffered  to  pass  unnoticed.  On  this  subject  some- 
thing will  be  advanced  in  the  next  and  concluding  chapter. 

But  while  the  actual  universe  as  now  constituted,  is 
supposed  to  include  capital  inequalities  of  the  corporeal 
economy,  and  to  have  its  local  distributions  of  life  —  life 
corruptible  and  life  incorruptible,  and  also  to  comprise 
within  each  locality  the  difference  of  palpable  and  impal- 
pable corporeity,  it  may  yet  be  true  (and  the  apparent 
meaning  of  the  inspired  writings  conveys  the  belief)  that 
the  entire  framework  of  nature  has  its  limited  era,  and 
shall,  after  fulfilling  an  introductory  purpose  in  the  great 
scheme  of  the  creation,  give  place  to  a  new  and  a  higher 
order  of  things,  and  to  a  construction  of  elements  such  as 


248  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

shall  better  consist  with  those  ultimate  moral  ends  for 
the  sake  of  which  all  things  are.  "  We,"  according  to 
the  divine  promise,  "  look  for  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth,  wherein  is  to  dwell  righteousness." 

Thus  may  our  three  conjectures  be  composed,  and 
made  to  consist,  one  with  the  other.  But  then  in  re- 
viewing the  whole,  as  so  adjusted,  we  owe  it  to  our  res- 
pect for  the  divine  testimony  (each  one  owes  it  to  his 
own  sense  of  piety)  very  clearly  to  separate  from  the 
mass  so  much  as  shall  seem  involved  in  the  language  of 
inspired  writers.  This  portion,  whatever  may  be  its 
amount,  and  on  this  point  there  will  be  a  diversity  of 
opinion,  is  to  be  set  off;  and  then  so  much  as  remains 
is  to  be  accounted  conjectural  simply,  and  as  such  to  be 
dealt  with.  But  then,  while  taking  due  care  not  to  con- 
found mere  speculation  with  serious  articles  of  belief, 
we  should  also  take  care  not  incuriously  to  dismiss,  un- 
distinguished, the  entire  mass  of  what  is  called  —  con- 
jectural ;  for  although  a  portion  of  this  hypothetical 
matter  may  be  nothing  better  than  sheer  supposition,  and 
may  be  sustained  only  by  its  general  agreement  with 
what  is  known,  another  portion  may  perhaps  claim  to  be 
considered  with  a  closer  attention,  and  may  justly  invite 
examination,  as  not  unlikely  to  lead  to  some  real  ad- 
vancements of  certain  branches  of  philosophy.  On  this 
point  also,  something  more  may  presently  be  said ; 
meanwhile  let  us,  on  broad  grounds,  endeavour  to  em- 
body the  principles  that  justify  conjectures,  such  as 
those  that  have  been  above  propounded. 

Reasoning  from  analogy,  is  only  the  assuming  that  a 
certain  power,  or  law,  or  principle,  which  is  seen  to  take 
effect,  and  to  operate  in  a  given  manner,  under  condi- 


OP    ANOTHER    LIFE.  249 

tions  specified,  will  also  operate  in  the  same,  or  in  a  si- 
milar manner,  elsewhere,  under  conditions  nearly  the 
same.  Thus  whatever  is  found  to  belong  to  the  general 
principle  of  gravitation,  and  to  motion  through  resisting 
mediums,  in  this  earth  of  ours,  is  confidently  supposed 
to  belong  to  the  same  principle,  and  to  motion  in  other 
planets,  and  other  systems,  when  once  it  has  been  as- 
certained that  gravitation  actually  extends  to  those  sys- 
tems, and  regulates  their  revolutions.  We  consider  it 
as  certain  that  the  law  is  the  same,  although  the  effects 
may  be  varied  by  the  difference  of  the  conditions  under 
which  it  operates.  As  for  example,  if  the  density  of 
Saturn,  as  compared  with  that  of  the  earth,  be  not  much 
greater  than  cork,  then,  his  bulk  also  considered,  the 
tendency  of  bodies  on  his  surface  will  proportionately 
differ  from  the  tendency  of  similar  bodies  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth:  or  again;  the  velocity  of  the  equatorial  re- 
gions of  Jupiter  being  vastly  greater  than  that  of  the 
earth's  equatorial  band,  and  the  bulk  of  the  two  planets 
also  differing,  the  respective  variation  between  the  weight 
of  bodies,  at  different  latitudes,  between  the  poles  and 
the  equator  in  the  two  planets,  will  vary  accordingly  ;  — 
the  one  law  holding  good  invariably  in  both.  In  draw- 
ing inferences  of  this  sort  it  would  be  a  false  diffidence 
to  call  them  conjectures  ;  for  we  tread  on  solid  ground, 
although  the  path  be  far  extended. 

Now  our  reasoning  is  not  much  less  firm  in  texture, 
or  much  less  entitled  to  confidence  in  its  conclusions, 
when  we  take  this  portion  of  the  universe,  which  is  our 
home,  and  with  which  we  are  familiarly  acquainted,  as 
an  exhibition  —  be  it  on  a  very  small  scale,  of  the  lead- 
ing principles  of  the  creation,  considered  as  the  product 
of  supreme  intelligence  and  goodness.  The  universe  is 
22 


250  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

not  the  work  of  chance  ;  and  therefore  will  not  be  found 
to'contain  boundless  irregularities,  or  freaks  and  utter 
inconsistencies  of  plan  and  principle.  The  universe  is 
the  work  of  mind,  and  the  expression  of  unchangeable 
moral  attributes;  it  will  therefore,  amid  all  its  diversities, 
keep  close  to  principle  and  law.  We  could  not  indeed, 
a  priori^  say  what  these  principles  must  be ;  nor  can  we, 
apart  from  actual  knowledge,  fix  a  boundary  upon  fhe 
scale  that  measures  the  extreme  instances  of  diversity  : 
nevertheless  we  may  conclude  that,  whatever  is  found 
to  consist  with  these  ruling  motives,  or  to  come  within 
the  circle  of  these  great  reasons,  in  our  own  world,  must 
consist  with  them  elsewhere  ;  and  moreover,  that  every 
single  principle  which  here  manifests  itself  in  a  copious 
and  unexhausted  manner,  is  probably  the  display  of  a 
universal  energy,  that  must  find  exercise,  not  in  this 
world  merely,  but  in  all. 

Thus  it  is  usual  to  argue,  with  confidence,  from  the 
fact  of  the  incalculable  multiplication  of  animal  life,  under 
so  many  forms,  on  the  surface  of  this  planet,  that  an  un- 
bounded diffusion  of  life  is  a  universal  intention  or  prin- 
ciple of  the  creative  power,  and  then,  when  we  find  the 
heavens  to  be  filled  with  innumerable  worlds,  as  if  in 
harmony  with  this  very  same  productive  energy,  and  find 
too,  so  far  as  our  observation  reaches,  that  these  worlds 
are  all  governed  by  the  same  physical  laws,  we  conclude, 
not  surely  very  uncertainly,  that  all  worlds,  or  most 
worlds  (for  there  may  be  single  exceptions)  are  abodes 
of  life ;  and  not  less  variously  or  copiously  so  than  our 
own.  If  this  often-repeated  argument  from  analogy  is 
to  be  termed,  as  to  the  conclusion  it  involves,  a  conjec- 
ture merely,  we  ought  then  to  abandon  altogether  every 
kind  of  abstract  reasoning ;  nor  will  it  be  easy  after- 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  251 

wards  to  make  good  any  principle  of  natural  theology. 
In  truth  the  very  basis  of  reasoning  is  shaken  by  a  skep- 
ticism so  sweeping  as  this. 

To  set  the  rule  of  analogical  reasoning,  as  now  em- 
ployed, clear  of  all  objections  and  difficulties,  would  de- 
mand a  volume ;  'but  at  present,  taking  it  as  generally 
received,  and  using  it  a  little  further  than  can  here  be 
fully  made  good  in  its  details,  yet  not  any  further  than, 
as  the  author  believes,  might  be  strictly  justified,  we 
apply  it  to  the  conjectures  lately  propounded,  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

The  universe,  as  actually  known  to  us,  is  very  clearly 
susceptible  of  being  considered  in  a  three-fold  aspect ; 
that  is  to  say,  first,  as  extended  through  space;  secondly, 
as  extended  in  kind,  or  by  diversity  of  species  and  modes 
of  existence  ;  and  thirdly,  as  extended  through  duration, 
or  in  time.  We  thus,  and  without  logical  refinement, 
think  of  the  creation,  or  of  any  single  region  of  it,  as 
mathematically  measurable ;  as  physically  open  to  de- 
scription, and  as  demanding  to  be  historically  recorded, 
in  respect  of  its  commencement,  and  the  epochs  and  re- 
volutions it  may  pass  through. 

Now  bringing  the  rule  of  analogy  —  analogy  includ- 
ing a  belief  in  the  universality  of  the  divine  attributes, 
into  its  application  to  the  above-named  threefold  view  of 
the  creation,  we  seem  warranted  in  supposing  that  there 
will  be  a  proportion  or  a  symmetry,  so  connecting  these 
three  modes  of  extension,  as  that  no  one  of  them  will 
immeasurably  surpass  the  others.  This  assumption  may 
easily  be  explained,  and  its  reasonableness  illustrated, 
by  stating  some  contrary  suppositions,  as  thus  :  — 

Let  us  imagine  ourselves  to  have  come  up  to  the  ex- 
terior wall  of  a  vast  palace,  which  already  we  have  seen 


25  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

to  cover  many  acres ;  but  on  entering  the  outer  gate, 
and  in  passing  through  its  courts,  we  find  that  the  enor- 
mous structure  rises  only  one  story  from  the  basement, 
that  its  chambers  are  all  of  uniform  dimensions,  are  all 
alike  in  embellishment  and  furniture,  and  that,  in  seeing 
the  first  of  its  thousand  halls,  we  have  seen  all.  And 
what  if  an  unvarying  ceremonial,  an  endless  round  of 
dull  manoeuvres,  repeated  day  after  day  through  the  year, 
and  year  after  year,  comprises  the  history  of  the  person- 
ages of  this  palace  !  The  very  idea  is  insufferable.  Now 
to  apply  our  illustration  to  the  argument  in  hand,  we  con- 
sider it  inevitable,  or  nearly  so,  to  conclude  that  the  ma- 
terial universe  —  this  palace  of  the  great  king,  is  various 
and  vast  in  the  species  and  modes  of  life  it  includes,  as 
well  as  vast  in  mathematical  extent ;  and  also  propor- 
tionately vast  and  various  in  the  destinies  and  the  revo- 
lutions of  which  it  shall  be  the  theatre. 

The  visible  extent  of  the  creation  through  space,  we 
take  as  an  indication,  by  the  rule  of  symmetry,  of  the  in- 
calculable compass  of  the  varieties  of  being,  now  actually 
occupying  the  abodes  that  constitute  the  celestial  sys- 
tem ;  and  again,  this  same  visible  extent  of  the  creation 
seems  to  bespeak  a  corresponding  or  analogous  vastness 
of  range  in  the  changes  and  revolutions,  the  transitions 
and  the  fortunes,  that  shall  constitute  the  history  of  the 
entire  system. 

By  freely  admitting  the  hypothesis  of  this  sort  of  pro- 
portion, as  involved  in  the  symmetry  of  the  universe,  and 
as  placing  its  extent  in  space,  its  extent  in  species,  and 
its  extent  in  time,  on  a  footing  of  equality,  we  seem  to 
have  gained  an  idea  of  the  whole,  such  as  comports  with 
the  notion  we  must  entertain  of  the  infinite  perfections  of 
Him  whose  work  it  is. 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE.  253 

Will  then  the  reader  go  forward  with  the  author  upon 
the  ground  of  this  supposition,  as  not  unreasonable  — 
That  the  vastness  of  the  visible  universe,  so  far  as  it  ac- 
tually comes  within  our  means  of  knowledge,  may  be 
taken  as  a  sort  of  gauge  of  the  vastness  of  that  range  of 
intellectual  and  moral  existence  of  which  the  visible  uni- 
verse is  the  platform  ?  If  this  rule  of  measurement  be 
granted,  it  will  imply  a  corresponding  vastness,  or  un- 
bounded range  of  fortunes,  as  attaching  to  the  intellec- 
tual economy,  and  as  yet  to  be  developed  in  the  lapse  of 
time.  Presuming  upon  the  reader's  willingness  to  grant 
the  premises  now  demanded,  it  will  be  proper  to  endea- 
vour to  define  a  little  our  conceptions  of  the  actual  ex- 
tent of  the  material  system  :  not  indeed  as  if  the  starry 
fields  were  to  be  measured  by  the  line  of  human  calcu- 
lation ;  or  as  if  even  the  multiplying  of  figures  would 
enable  the  mind  to  grasp  the  quantities  they  represent. 
Nevertheless  there  is  something  which  may  be  done,  the 
doing  of  which  is  highly  important  to  the  purpose  we  have 
immediately  in  view.  In  dealing  with  a  theme  such  as 
this,  wherein  the  objects  spoken  of  immeasurably  tran- 
scend as  well  the  powers  of  the  conceptive  faculty,  as 
the  powers  of  arithmetic  and  of  language,  the  very  plain- 
est style  and  the  very  homeliest  terms,  are  the  most  ap- 
propriate; inasmuch  as  while  employing  such  a  style  and 
terms,  the  illusion  is  avoided  of  supposing,  either  that 
our  ideas,  or  our  mode  of  expressing  them,  bears  any 
sort  of  proportion  to  the  things  spoken  of.  We  will  then 
speak  of  the  probable  dimensions  of  the  heavens,  as  we 
should  of  the  width  and  height  of  a  building. 

Methods  of  computation  (as  every  one  knows)  which 
are  not  uncertain,  afford  us  the  means  of  advancing  a 
negative  proposition,  to  this  effect,  that  the  nearest  of 
22* 


254  PHYSICALTHEORY 

fixed  stars  is  more  remote  than  the  distance,  already 
mentioned  (page  59),  or  about  twenty  billions  of  miles, 
a  distance  which  would  be  traversed  by  light  (passing 
ninety-five  millions  of  miles  in  8  min.  7  sec.)  in  three 
years  and  two  hundred  and  sixteen  days.  But  there  are 
millions  of  stars  so  much  more  remote  than  those  that 
have  been  supposed  to  afford  a  parallax,  that  they  may 
actually  have  ceased  to  exist  three  thousand  years  ago, 
and  yet  may  appear  in  their  places ;  their  last  ray  not 
having  reached  our  system :  these  facts  every  one  is 
familiar  with. 

But  now,  in  supposing  ourselves  to  pass  on  beyond 
the  nearer  strata  of  the  starry  expanse,  and  towards  the 
most  remote  which  powerful  telescopes  discover,  have  we 
any  reason  to  imagine  that  we  are  approaching  the  con- 
fines of  creation?  or  shall  we  conclude  that,  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  human  eye,  and  the  telescope,  nothing  re- 
mains? This  was  surely  a  greater  presumption  than 
to  admit  as  probable,  the  contrary  supposition,  well  as  it 
consists  with  what  we  actually  know.  What  is  it  that 
encircles  the  creation,  so  far  as  seen  ?  certainly  not  any 
limit  of  the  creative  power.  But  the  material  world  is 
not  infinite:  no;  yet  infinitude  allows  that  the  visible 
heavens  should  be  multiplied,  or  repeated,  millions  of 
times,  and  still  that  it  should  lie  far  within  the  limits  of 
the  infinite.  The  apparent  probability  is  that  the  uni- 
verse has  no  such  limits  as  those  which  the  human  eye 
extends  to.  The  inference  we  are  warranted  in  drawing 
is  of  the  same  sort  as  that  we  should  adopt,  concerning 
the  expanse  of  the  ocean,  in  looking  at  the  horizon  from 
successive  elevations  :  —  we  first  measure  the  watery 
field  from  the  deck  of  a  ship ;  and  thence  we  behold  a 
billowy  line,  not  much  exceeding  a  radius  of  a  league  or 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  255 

two.  But  we  ascend  the  shrouds,  and  at  the  height  of 
the  main  yards  or  cross-trees  perceive  that  a  much 
evener  horizon  marks  a  distance  at  which  the  waves 
cease  to  be  discernible,  or  to  present  a  serrated  line ; 
and  we  accordingly  extend  our  calculation  to  the  distance 
of  eight  or  ten  leagues.  Thence  we  climb  to  the  top- 
mast, and  again  stretch  our  circle  to  a  double  diameter, 
or  more ;  and  if  we  could  borrow  the  wings  of  the  eagle, 
and  soar  to  the  clouds,  we  should  still  gaze  upon  a 
widening  prospect,  and  find  that  the  dim  distance  en- 
larges at  every  stage  of  our  ascent,  and  at  a  rate  sur- 
passing the  scale  we  had  assumed  at  the  first. 

It  is  thus  that  every  extension  of  our  means  of  know- 
ing the  starry  field,  has  only  served  to  open  to  us  a  vastly 
wider  prospect,  without  giving  any  indication  of  our  dis- 
cerning a  limit :  on  the  contrary,  new  nebulae,  similar  to 
those  that  have  been  found  to  consist  of  innumerable 
stars,  are  revealed,  and  new  vistas  of  worlds  are  dimly 
opened  before  us.  Thus  we  have  every  reason  to  sup- 
pose the  creation  to  be  immensely  more  extensive  than 
the  space  reached  by  the  telescope :  and  yet  this  space, 
in  the  mode  in  which  it  offers  itself  to  our  conceptions, 
suggests  a  supposition,  tending  to  give  consistency,  as 
well  as  enlargement,  to  our  notions  of  the  universe. — 

The  galaxy,  ascertained  to  consist  of  innumerable 
stars,  and  forming,  as  seen  from  our  system,  a  some- 
what irregular  band,  encircling  the  heavens,  obliquely  to 
the  ecliptic,  gives,  to  the  general  figure  of  the  starry 
expanse,  the  form  of  a  flat  parallelogram,  about  the  midst 
of  which  is  placed  the  sun  of  our  system.  Laterally, 
and  looking  towards  the  sides  of  this  parallelogram,  the 
stars  are  comparatively  scanty;  but  looking  in  any  di- 
rection, longitudinally,  or  towards  the  extremities,  we 


256  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

include,  of  course,  a  vast  perspective,  and  see  a  thick- 
ened brightness,  constituted  of  the  countless  worlds  that 
are  ranged  within  the  general  figure. 

But  now,  in  adhering  to  the  analogy  of  the  celestial 
structures,  are  we  to  conceive  of  this  parallelogram  as 
being  such  indeed,  and  as  stretching  itself,  in  obedience 
to  no  rule  of  symmetry,  through  space,  like  a  raft,  float- 
ing in  the  ocean?  or  shall  we  not  rather  believe  that  the 
portion  of  the  field  of  space  which  we  see  replenished 
with  suns,  constitutes  really  a  segment  of  a  sphere,  so 
immeasurably  vast,  that  the  suns  ranged  in  the  opposite 
sides  of  the  hollow  globe  are  totally  beyond  the  range  of 
vision,  or  perhaps  even  beyond  the  passage  of  light.  In 
fact,  the  diameter  of  this  supposed  sphere  must  be  such 
that,  if  light  could  traverse  it,  countless  ages  must  elapse 
before  it  could  reach  us.  The  supposition  we  now  pro- 
pound may  be  conceived  of  readily  by  any  one  who 
imagines  a  hollow  globe,  we  will  say  of  three  feet  diam- 
eter, formed  of  a  crust  of  glass,  two  inches  thick ;  and 
this  crust  containing,  pretty  plentifully,  grains  of  sand, 
evenly  distributed.  Now  if  we  think  of  the  eye  as  sta- 
tioned at  any  one  of  these  grains,  as  its  point  of  view, 
the  speckled  substance  of  the  glassy  crust  would  present 
an  appearance  not  unlike  that  offered  by  the  starry 
heavens ;  laterally,  to  the  right  and  left,  the  substance 
would  be  comparatively  clear  of  grains;  but  in  every 
direction  longitudinally,  that  is  to  say,  following  the 
course  of  the  substance,  the  grains  would  seem  so  thick- 
ly ranged  as  to  give  an  opacity  to  its  appearance.  At 
the  same  time,  the  opposite  side  of  the  globe  would  be 
too  remote  for  its  grains  to  attract  the  eye. 

If  this  supposition  is  thought  to  consist  with  the  law 
which  seems  to  impose  a  spherical  figure  upon  all  the 


OF    ANOTHER     LIFE.  257 

celestial  masses  and  motions,  and  so  to  recommend  itself 
as  probable,  and  as  agreeable  to  the  analogy  of  known 
facts,  then  it  will  be  manifest  that  the  portion  of  the 
heavens  seen  by  us,  can  bear  but  a  small  proportion  to 
the  part  unseen  ;  —  such  a  proportion,  for  example,  as 
is  borne  by  the  Australian  continent  to  the  entire  surface 
of  our  globe.  To  present  the  appearance  which  it  act- 
ually does,  this  portion  can  hardly  exceed  the  extent  of 
fifty  degrees  of  the  circle. 

And  yet,  when  we  have  conceived  of  a  starry  sphere, 
such  as  has  been  described,  are  we  to  conclude  that 
we  have  compassed  the  material  universe?  If  there  be 
one  such  sphere,  there  may  be,  in  remotest  space,  an- 
other; and  if  another,  many.  This  world  of  ours  is  not 
the  universe;  —  the  solar  system  is  not  the  universe  :  — 
but  do  our  telescopes  of  twenty  feet  long  sweep  the  field 
of  the  universe  1  The  probability  that  they  do  not  is  as 
strong  as  any  probability  can  be  :  every  reason  is  on  the 
other  side ;  and  with  the  infinity  of  space,  and  the  infi- 
nite creative  power  and  will  of  the  Supreme  Being  as  the 
field  and  the  means,  the  belief  that  this  energy  reaches 
its  boundary  within  any  circle  that  any  created  mind  will 
ever  be  able  to  measure,  or  to  conceive  of,  is  not  to  be 
entertained.  On  the  contrary,  we  may  far  more  reason- 
ably suppose,  not  only  that  the  divine  perfections  of 
power  and  wisdom  abstractedly,  will  always  surpass  the 
comprehension  of  finite  beings,  but  that  the  products  of 
those  perfections  will  go  beyond  the  longest  line  of 
created  minds ;  and  that  not  the  loftiest  seraph  shall 
ever  be  able  to  reach  a  spot  whence,  with  even  a  seraph's 
ken,  he  may  be  able  to  descry  the  lone  boundaries  of  the 
creation,  and  to  look  beyond  the  circle  of  productive 
power.  Rather  let  us  believe  that  creatures  —  the 


258  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

highest  of  them,  let  them  wander  where  they  may,  and 
as  far  as  they  may,  and  let  them  hold  on  their  course 
with  unwearied  curiosity,  age  after  age,  and  in  what  di- 
rection they  may  please,  shall  yet  find  themselves  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  populous  dominions  of  the  Almighty, 
and  surrounded,  in  all  directions,  by  worlds  and  systems 
of  worlds. 

Whoever  takes  the  simple  facts  now  ascertained,  and 
forming  part  of  our  astronomy,  and,  with  laborious  and 
continued  effort  of  the  mind,  follows  them  out,  and 
brings  them  within  grasp,  even  faintly,  of  the  conceptive 
and  rational  faculties,  will  find  it  far  more  easy  to  go  the 
length  we  have  now  gone,  in  our  hypothesis  of  the  ma- 
terial universe,  than  to  stop  short  of  it,  at  any  point,  and 
to  conceive  of  a  limit,  or  a  cessation  of  the  creative 
energy.  The  limit,  place  it  where  we  may,  offends  rea- 
son ;  but  the  unbounded  conception  gives  us  the  liberty 
we  want  in  thinking  of  God  and  his  works. 

Whatever  speculation  we  may  indulge,  concerning  the 
vastness,  or  the  form  of  the  visible  universe,  it  manifest- 
ly transcends  all  our  powers  of  conception  and  calcula- 
tion. The  "  stars  of  heaven  "  are  as  the  "  sands  upon 
the  sea  shore  "  —  innumerable  :  and  they  are  planted 
through  space  at  distances,  one  from  the  other,  exceed- 
ing all  means  of  measurement.  This  is  enough.  But 
now,  in  considering  the  vast  structure  as  THE  WORK  or 
MIND,  and  as  the  product,  not  of  power  merely,  but  of 
wisdom,  we  are  absolutely  compelled  to  assign  to  the 
whole  a  purpose  proportionate  to  the  mechanical  prepa- 
ration for  life  which  it  furnishes.  The  vastness  of  the 
platform  implies  a  corresponding  grandeur  of  intention ; 
and  an  intention  as  ample  in  its  compass  as  the  necessary 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE. 


259 


conditions  of  finite  being  may  admit.  That  is  to  say,  in 
looking  at  the  heavens  we  assume  that  a  theatre  so  stu- 
pendous does,  and  shall  sustain  the  utmost  amount  of 
life,  not  merely  in  numbers,  but  in  kinds,  which  it  can  ab- 
stractedly sustain.  The  Creator  having,  as  we  see,  put 
forth  his  power  unboundedly,  in  relation  to  space,  shall 
put  it  forth  unboundedly  also  in  relation  to  species,  and 
modes  of  existence. 

The  strength  of  this  sort  of  inference  will  be  differ- 
ently estimated  by  different  minds  ;  but  there  are  few,  if 
any,  who  would  not  yield  to  it,  to  some  extent.  For  ex- 
ample ;  none  could  tolerate  the  idea,  and  especially  see- 
ing what  we  see  in  our  own  planets,  that  the  innumerable 
spheres  around  us  are  totally  untenanted,  and  that  the 
stupendous  celestial  mechanism,  is  a  mechanism  merely. 
Not  much  more  admissible  is  the  idea  that, our  own  planet 
excepted,  the  lowest  forms  of  life  only,  as  of  vegetables 
and  zoophytes,  are  to  be  found  in  all  the  fair  fields  of  crea- 
tion. Nor  again,  can  the  mind  satisfy  itself,  or  get  free 
from  a  distressing  sense  of  disproportion,  in  stopping 
short  of  the  belief  that  intellectual  and  moral  life,  on  a 
scale  at  least  equal  to  that  which  has  place  in  this  world, 
has  place  in  other  worlds. 

But  this  is  barely  enough ;  or  it  is  the  lowest  supposi- 
tion that  can  at  all  be  entertained ;  and  the  idea  which 
the  author  would  fain  set  at  work  in  the  reader's  mind  in- 
volves a  principle  that  must  carry  us  much  further.  And 
it  is  not  merely  that  we  involuntarily  expect  to  find  with- 
in so  vast  a  scheme  beings  higher  in  faculty  and  power 
than  man  ;  but  that  a  wider  range  should  be  taken  as  to 
the  modes  of  existence.  In  all  worlds  is  there  nothing 
to  be  found  except  animal  organization,  and  nothing  more 
excellent]  Is  the  creative  energy  hemmed  in  so  much, 


260  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

as  that  the  human  structure  is  the  utmost  that  can  be  ac- 
complished ?  If  nothing  restrains  it,  as  we  see  it  is  not 
restrained  in  respect  of  dimensions,  or  numbers,  is  it  re- 
strained in  respect  of  the  means  and  elements  of  life  1 
We  conclude  it  is  not ;  and  on  the  contrary  must  profess 
to  believe  that  the  reach  of  power,  in  the  one  respect,  is 
fully  borne  out  by  its  reach  in  the  other ;  and  that  the 
universe  is  not  more  amazing  in  a  simply  mechanical  or 
mathematical  sense,  than  it  is  in  what  we  must  call  its 
physiology. 

The  divine  attributes,  as  we  have  already  had  occasion 
to  observe,  are  not  to  be  conceived  of  like  the  faculties 
or  the  impulses  of  human  nature,  as  so  many  distinct  and 
separable  qualities,  or  powers,  any  one  or  more  of  which 
may  come  into  play,  while  the  others  remain  inert.  No- 
thing less  can  be  admitted,  concerning  the  infinite  and 
absolute  Being,  than  that  He  is  ONE  in  essence,  in  a  sense 
exclusive  of  all  partial  modes  of  procedure,  or  single  ex- 
ertions of  particular  attributes.  We  must  not  think  that 
the  divine  power  is  put  forth  in  any  instance,  not  accom- 
panied by  the  divine  wisdom  ;  or  these  apart  from  good- 
ness and  justice.  God  is,  not,  in  any  act,  just  only,  or 
good  only,  or  wise  only,  or  almighty  only  ;  but  always, 
and  in  every  particular  act,  exhibits,  or  if  not  exhibits, 
really  exercises,  the  complement  of  his  awful  perfections : 
and  as  we  must  not  think  that  any  one  of  those  attributes 
which  we,  from  the  limitation  of  our  powers,  are  com- 
pelled to  speak  of  distinctively,  comes  into  act  alone,  so 
neither  must  we  suppose  that  any  one  attribute  is  ever, 
or  in  any  case,  latent ;  for  the  latter  supposition,  as  well 
as  the  former,  implies  what  must  by  no  means  be  grant- 
ed —  a  parting,  or  a  divisibility  of  the  divine  nature.  This 
belief  of  what  must  be  termed  the  simplicity  and  integrity 


OP     ANOTHER    LIFE.  261 

of  the  Infinite  Being,  which  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
in  relation  to  every  branch  of  theology,  carries  with  it 
the  belief  that  if  God  creates  at  all,  he  will  create  in  the 
plenary  exercise  of  his  undivided  perfections. 

Now  what  we  actually  see  of  the  celestial  system  goes 
little  further  than  to  display  infinite  power.  Our  scien- 
tific deductions  indeed  give  evidence  of  intelligence  in 
the  equipoise  of  the  planetary  revolutions;  but  at  this  point 
we  stop.  Yet  although  deprived  of  the  means  of  imme- 
diately ascertaining,  or  of  witnessing,  the  exertion  of  the 
other  attributes  of  Deity,  ought  we  to  doubt,  or  can  we, 
with  any  consistency  doubt,  that  power  and  intelligence, 
thus  boundlessly  put  forth,  under  our  eyes,  are  moving 
alone  1  Rather  we  conclude,  with  a  rational  confidence, 
that  the  bare  power  and  intelligence  are  subsidiary  only 
to  the  exercise  of  the  moral  perfections  ;  and  that  there- 
fore, on  the  theatre  of  the  material  universe  the  greatest 
range  possible  is  taken  for  putting  in  movement  those 
loftier  attributes. 

It  is  on  this  ground  then  that,  while  we  hold  very  light 
every  special  hypothesis  concerning  the  universe,  which 
is  not  distinctly  sustained  by  scriptural  evidence,  or  actual 
facts,  we  challenge  a  serious  importance  for  the  PRINCI- 
PLE on  which  such  conjectures  proceed,  and  can  by  no 
means  admit  that  the  refutation  of  any  one  such  particu- 
lar hypothesis  would  involve  a  rejection  of  the  theory  of 
which  it  may  be  an  individual  expression. 

What  has  now  been  said  concerning  that  range  and 
variety  in  the  modes  of  existence  which  seems  implied, 
by  the  rule  of  symmetry,  in  the  mere  vastness  of  the  ma- 
terial universe,  is  plainly  applicable  also,  as  we  have  as- 
sumed it  to  be,  to  that  range  and  variety  of  fortune  which 
the  lapse  of  time  shall  develope.  If  we  cannot  admit  the 
23 


262  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

belief  that  a  low  uniformity  prevails  through  all  worlds, 
neither  can  we  imagine  a  dull  monotony  to  be  the  law 
of  all. 

In  truth  the  very  attributes  which  give  birth  to  variety, 
at  any  one  moment,  must  give  birth  to  variety,  succes- 
sively, or  through  the  eras  of  time.  That  same  power 
and  intelligence  which  expand  in  the  one  direction,  will 
expand  in  the  other,  by  necessity  :  nor  can  we  assign  any 
value  to  our  argument  in  its  bearing  upon  space,  and  spe- 
cies, which  will  not  attach  to  it,  in  an  equal  degree,  in  re- 
lation to  time. 

Moreover, high  faculties  involve  high  destinies,  whether 
for  the  better  or  the  worse :  a  faculty  is  a  germinating 
power;  and  the  more  profound  or  expansive  it  is,  the 
greater  will  be  the  difference  between  its  early  and  its 
later  developements.  A  being  of  complex  faculty  will 
never  fail  to  create  to  itself  A  HISTORY.  Two  such  be- 
ings associated,  will  generate  a  course  of  events  indefi- 
nitely various ;  and  a  large  community  of  beings,  each 
endowed  with  active  powers,  and  impelled  by  various  and 
contrary  impulses,  must  impart  a  complexity  to  the  course 
of  events  such  as  is  not  to  be  unravelled,  or  brought 
round  to  its  simple  elements,  within  any  brief  period.  Or 
perhaps,  we  should  rather  say  that  a  course  of  events, 
complicated  as  it  must  be  by  springing  from  the  interac- 
tion of  beings  themselves  complex  in  powers  and  desires, 
will  perpetually  involve  itself  deeper  and  deeper  with  the 
great  principles  of  moral  government ;  and  thus  will  ac- 
cumulate its  demands  upon  futurity,  wherein  laws  are  to 
be  vindicated,  and  irregularities  reduced  to  system. 

To  bring  then  our  present  argument  to  a  conclusion, 
and  summarily  to  state  its  import,  we  look  upon  the  visi- 
ble universe,  its  immeasurable  spaces,  and  its  innumera- 


OF     A  N  O  T  H  E  »R     LIFE.  263 

ble  spheres,  as  a  fully  expressed  symbol  of  POWER,  but 
as  a  partially  expressed  symbol  of  WISDOM  ;  —  we  say 
partially,  because  it  is  hardly  at  all  by  the  eye,  and  only 
in  degree  by  the  inferences  of  science,  that  the  construc- 
tion of  this  stupendous  work  is  at  present  cognizable. 
But  we  do  not  forget  that  it  is  by  accommodation  to  our 
own  modes  of  thinking  that  we  speak  of  the  power  and 
wisdom  of  God  distinctively,  and  that,  in  truth,  these  at- 
tributes are  relations  only  of  the  one  undivided  and  un- 
distinguished Infinite  Nature.  This  same  celestial  struc- 
ture therefore,  could  we  examine  it  throughout,  would  be 
found  to  exhibit  every  other  attribute,  in  act,  with  an  equal 
or  proportionate  intensity.  The  power  has  not  gone  fur- 
ther than  the  wisdom,  nor  these  further  than  the  good- 
ness, or  the  rectitude ;  and  the  universe  is  doubtless  as 
great  in  every  sense,  as  it  is  great  in  mere  dimension, 
and  in  number  of  parts.  It  is  as  if,  upon  the  palace  wall 
of  the  Supreme,  a  hand  were  seen  writing :  —  already  it 
has  written,  in  our  view  —  *  Power,'  and  partly  Wisdom  ; 
but  knowing  whose  name  it  is,  of  which  this  writing  is 
the  initial  portion,  we  well  know  that  the  entire  inscrip- 
tion must  run  on  much  further. 

Let  every  one  then  —  every  one  capable  of  holding 
correspondence  with  the  Creative  and  with  the  Ruling 
Mind,  let  every  one  read,  in  the  visible  heavens,  a  dim, 
and  yet  not  fallacious  presage  of  the  vastness,  and  the 
depth,  and  height,  of  the  unseen  economy,  with  which 
he  shall  find  his  destinies  involved  ;  and  let  him  believe 
that,  when  this  now  unseen  economy  comes  to  be  known, 
the  vastness  of  the  material  theatre  shall  cease  to  attract 
regard,  in  comparison  with  the  stupendous  movements 
and  destinies  it  sustains. 


264 


PHYSICAL    THEORY 


CHAPTER    XX. 

ON    THE   ADVANCEMENT   OF  PNEUMATOLOGY. 

THE  two  pioneers  of  physical  philosophy  are  Accident 
and  Hypothesis;  and  so  it  is  that  science,  while  profess- 
ing to  care  for  nothing  but  what  is  certain,  actually  owes 
the  extension  of  her  domain  very  much  to  chance,  and 
to  conjecture.  This  humiliating  fact,  if  indeed  it  should 
be  thought  of  as  humiliating,  is  forcibly  felt,  and  freely 
acknowledged,  during  the  spring  season  of  any  single 
branch  of  science  ;  for  then  the  particular  instances  are 
fresh  in  every  one's  recollection.  But  afterwards,  and 
when  the  new  truths  have  acquired  firmness  and  con- 
sistency, and  when  they  have  settled  down  into  the  form 
of  an  ascertained  system,  and  when  this  system  exacts 
submission,  instead  of  asking  for  patronage,  then  it  is 
apt  to  shrink  disdainfully  from  its  early  helps,  to  frown 
upon  hypothesis,  and  to  think  itself  beyond  the  reach  of 
any  further  accessions  from  accident.  This  feeling  and 
practice  however,  are  not  to  be  admitted ;  and  philosophy, 
in  its  ripest  state,  should  still  favour  the  means  of  its 
early  triumphs,  and  freely  yield  itself  to  every  new  chance 
of  advancement. 

All  this  is  especially  true  in  relation  to  the  several 
branches  of  intellectual  philosophy ;  and  yet  the  very 
difficulty  and  indistinctness  of  the  subject,  which  should 
incline  those  who  pursue  it  to  admit  and  invite  every  pos- 
sible aid,  seems  rather  to  inspire  a  prudish  jealousy,  or 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE.  265 

coyness,  as  if  what  is  felt  to  be  held  in  an  uncertain 
and  precarious  manner,  were  secure  only  while  guarded 
against  every  rudeness. 

Among  the  expressions  of  this  sort  of  latent  fear,  the 
following  may  be  named  ;  and  first,  a  stern  decision,  in 
relation  to  certain  natural  subjects  of  curiosity,  concern- 
ing the  constitution  of  man,  that  they  lie  absolutely  and 
hopelessly  beyond  the  reach  of  the  human  faculties ;  and 
that  it  is  a  proof  of  ignorance,  and  presumption,  and  of 
an  incapacity  to  discern  the  real  limits  of  mental  philo- 
sophy, so  much  as  to  moot  these  questions,  or  to  indi- 
cate a  wish  to  pursue  them :  just  as  it  is  held  to  be  the 
sign  of  a  smattering  acquaintance  with  mathematical 
principles,  to  go  in  quest  of  a  perpetual  motion.  Again, 
this -same  unacknowledged  feeling  would  restrict  us,  not 
merely  in  relation  to  the  subjects  of  inquiry,  but  as  to  the 
mode  of  conducting  those  inquiries  which,  in  themselves, 
are  granted  to  be  legitimate.  Mental  philosophy  must 
be  cultivated,  it  is  said,  with  clean  hands  ;  that  is  to  say 
in  a  rigid  avoidance  of  any  process  of  investigation  not 
strictly  analytical  and  metaphysical;  or  such  as  would 
seem  to  bring  these  high  themes  down  from  their  eleva- 
tion, and  set  them  upon  the  common  level  of  physiologi- 
cal researches.  All  we  can  know  of  MIND  (as  we  are 
taught  to  believe)  is  to  be  found  in  an  analysis  of  our 
personal  consciousness  :  —  the  mental  philosopher  need 
never  leave  his  study.  Mental  philosophy  is  granted  to 
be  inductive;  but  the  materials  of  the  induction  are  all 
in  the  bosom. 

Once  more  ;  the  very  same  freedom  in  admitting  con- 
jectures which,  within  the  circle  of  the  physical  sciences, 
is  allowed  and  encouraged,  on  the  well  understood  prin- 
ciple that  such  conjectures  (never  confounded  with  as- 
23* 


266  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

certained  facts)  may  lead  the  way  to  discovery,  and  keep 
the  mind  alert,  and  ready  to  avail  itself  of  happy  acci- 
dents —  this  same  freedom  of  conjecture,  which  has 
been  so  fruitful  a  source  of  important  advancements,  is 
somewhat  superciliously  discarded  from  the  precincts  of 
Intellectual  Philosophy,  as  worthy  only  of  vulgar  and 
empirical  minds.  But  before  conjecture  or  hypothesis 
is  thus  excluded  from  the  range  of  mental  science,  it 
should  be  proved,  that  the  occult  constitution  of  rational 
and  sentient  beings  is  to  be  explored  by  the  method  of 
analysis  alone  ;  for  it  is  manifest,  that  if  the  mental,  like 
the  animal  structure,  may  possibly  become  better  known 
than  it  is  by  a  collation  of  various  classes  of  facts  —  facts 
assembled  under  the  guidance  of  a  previously  assumed 
theory,  then  it  will  follow  that  it  is  to  the  aid  of  hypothe- 
sis we  should  look  for  further  advancements,  in  this,  as 
well  as  in  other  lines  of  physical  inquiry.  And  in  truth, 
by  so  much  as  this  subject  is  obscure  and  remote  from 
immediate  observation,  the  more  need  have  we  of  such 
assistance.  Have  we  not  mental  firmness  enough  to 
secure  ourselves  absolutely  against  the  danger  of  putting 
mere  conjecture  in  the  place  of  real  science]  If  we 
have  not,  let  us  abstain  altogether  from  philosophic  pur- 
suits. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  what  room  is  there  for  hypothe- 
sis, or  in  what  direction  are  conjectures  to  be  hazarded, 
in  relation  to  the  proper  objects  of  mental  philosophy  ? 
In  reply,  we  grant  at  once,  that  there  is  little  room  for 
admitting  these  pregnant  methods  of  inquiry  in  relation 
to  that  sort  of  mental  philosophy  which  turns  upon  the 
adjustment  and  exact  expression  of  abstract  notions,  and 
which  is  properly  termed  METAPHYSICS.  But  we  look 
wider  when  we  think  of  intellectual  science,  and  think  of 


OF     ANOTHER    LIFE. 


267 


it  as  a  branch  of  physiology.  Thus  understood,  it  not 
merely  embraces  more  objects,  but  comes  under  methods 
of  investigation  that  are  more  diversified.  Metaphysics 
is  analytic  simply ;  but  Intellectual  Philosophy,  while  it 
employs  analysis,  rests  mainly  upon  induction  (in  the 
physical  sense  of  the  term)  and  must  employ  as  well 
hypothesis,  as  observation  and  experiment. 

Metaphysical  mental  philosophy  is  the  knowledge  of 
MIND  ;  but  Physical  mental  philosophy  is  the  knowledge 
of  MINDS  ;  and  this  distinction  opens  before  us  at  once, 
a  wide  and  various  field.  The  knowledge  of  minds  we 
might  consent  to  designate  by  the  term  Pneumatology, 
comprehensively  understood ;  and  it  will  then  lead  us  to 
make  inquiry,  not  merely  concerning  the  laws  of  mind, 
as  discoverable  by  an  analysis  of  our  personal  conscious- 
ness ;  but  concerning  those  often-recurrent  varieties  of 
mental  conformation  (within  the  human  system)  which 
assume  very  nearly  the  distinctness  and  the  regularity 
that  constitute  specific  differences,  and  which  might  pro- 
perly give  rise  to  a  classification  by  orders,  genera,  and 
species.  If  any  such  classification  were  effected,  it  is 
manifest  that  a  comparison  of  the  differences  on  the 
ground  of  which  it  was  made  would  immensely  extend 
and  advance  our  knowledge  of  mind  in  the  abstract ;  for 
it  is  only  by  setting  off  the  differences,  one  after  another, 
that  any  generic  body  or  class  of  things  can  be  known. 

But  this  is  not  all ;  for,  on  the  one  hand,  with  the  many 
indications,  some  indeed  obscure,  and  some  explicit,  of 
the  existence  of  rational  orders,  other  than  the  human, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  with  innumerable  sentient  and 
voluntary  species  around  us,  partaking  with  ourselves, 
in  the  fullest  manner,  of  all  the  rudimental  faculties  of 


268  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

mind,  and  exhibiting  proofs  also  of  the  germs  or  faint 
characteristics  of  some  of  the  highest  faculties,  it  can 
never  be  assented  to  that  mental  philosophy  should  be 
restricted  within  the  limits  of  the  human  system. 

Even  if  it  were  true  that  we  may  know  much  more  of 
the  human  mind,  than  of  any  other  class,  and  that  the 
knowledge  of  the  human  mind  is  of  more  practical  con- 
sequence than  the  knowledge  of  any  other,  it  will  not 
follow,  if  we  regard  the  spirit  and  rules  of  our  modern 
physical  sciences,  that  we  should  so  narrow  the  range  of 
our  curiosity.  But  in  truth,  it  may  be  made  to  appear, 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  human  mind  is  more  likely  to 
be  advanced,  in  relation  to  what  still  remains  obscure, 
by  pursuing  these  difficulties  on  other  ground  than  that 
Of  the  human  mind,  than  by  arrogantly  and  pertinaciously 
continuing  to  fix  our  attention  upon  the  facts  of  our  per- 
sonal consciousness.  Let  us  leave  our  closets,  forsake 
our  dim  seclusions,  and  our  lamps,  and  open  our  eyes 
upon  the  wide  world  of  animated  beings. 

In  relation  to  the  supernal  branch  of  pneumatology, 
alluded  -to  above,  it  is  granted  that  science  can  go 
but  a  little  way,  with  its  merely  natural  means  of  infor- 
mation ;  nor  is  it  desirable  that  an  intermixture  of  philoso- 
phical inquiries,  and  biblical  deductions,  should  be  encou- 
raged. On  this  very  principle  the  author,  in  the  preceding 
pages,  has  avoided  every  thing  beyond  a  mere  passing  re- 
ference to  facts  known  to  us  only  through  the  medium  of 
the  inspired  writings.  The  subject  is  a  biblical  one,  and 
might  well  engage  the  attention  of  those  qualified  to  pur- 
sue it,  in  the  legitimate  methods  of  interpretation  and 
criticism.  And  yet,  in  placing  this  obscure  subject  in  a 
clearer  light  than  at  present  falls  upon  it,  little  probably 
would  be  done  by  any  who  should  resolve  to  entertain 


OF    ANOTHER    LIFE. 

none  of  those  mere  conjectures  which  suggests  them- 
selves to  us  in  hours  of  unrestricted  meditation,  those 
numerous  pasages  of  scripture  which  affirm  or  imply  the 
existence  and  agency  of  superhuman  and  extra-human 
orders,  are  manifestly  imperfect  allusions  merely  to  sin- 
gle points  of  a  vast  scheme,  veiled  from  our  view ;  and 
unless  we  court  the  aid  of  hypothesis  —  and  of  more 
than  onehypothesis,  in  expounding  those  scattered  notices, 
it  is  not  probable  that  we  shall  ever  advance  a  step  beyond 
the  mere  literal  interpretation  of  single  texts.  On  the 
contrary,  it  might  happen,  that  a  series  of  suppositions, 
well  devised,  might  at  length  lead  to  some  such  general 
notion  on  the  subject  as  would  give  consistency  to  all 
parts  of  the  evidence,  dissipate  many  difficulties,  and 
even  lead  to  our  entertaining  more  expanded  and  more 
profoundly  affecting  notions  of  that  scheme  within  which 
our  own  destinies  are  involved. 

In  advancing  the  conjectures  which,  in  the  present 
work,  he  has  hazarded,  the  author  has  briefly  stated  some 
of  those  suppositions  he  has  been  accustomed  to  entertain, 
in  reading  the  scriptures,  with  the  very  view  of  catching 
every  faint  indication  of  things  unseen,  and  that  often 
are  of  a  kind  so  obscure  as  to  escape  notice  entirely,  ex- 
cept when  the  mind  is  quickened,  in  an  unusual  manner, 
by  the  excitement  of  some  general  and  consistent  con- 
ception of  the  unseen  economy.  No  sound  mind  is  se- 
duced from  its  sobriety  longer  than  a  few  minutes  by 
any  such  conception,  how  plausible  soever  it  may  seem. 
But  although  not  beguiled,  the  mind  may  be  substan- 
tially aided  by  thus  entertaining  an  hypothesis.  Let,  for 
example,  some  one  such  theory  be  distinctly  digested, 
and  the  mind  filled  with  it ;  let  it  be  compared  with  what- 
ever we  know  of  the  system  of  the  universe,  whether  by 


270  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

analogy  or  observation  ;  and  then  let  the  entire  chain  of 
scripture  evidence,  critically  examined,  be  gone  over, 
with  a  view  to  this  particular  supposition.  The  conse- 
quence will  be,  perhaps,  its  absolute  rejection ;  or  per- 
haps it  may  so  adjust  itself  with  special  points  of  the  evi- 
dence as  to  forbid  its  total  rejection,  and  so  as  may  lead 
to  its  being  held  in  reserve,  to  be  compared  with  the  re- 
sults of  inquiries  conducted  on  some  other  principle. 

But  are  such  inquiries  altogether  idle,  futile,  and 
vain  ?  Will  those  venture  to  say  so,  who  entertain  a  due 
reverence  for  the  canon  of  scripture,  and  who  believe 
that  every  separate  portion  of  it  is  placed  where  it  is 
found  with  a  specific  intention,  and  for  an  important  end  ? 
Let  it  rather  be  believed  as  probable  that,  if  our  Christi- 
anity is  to  recommend  itself  more  extensively  than  hith- 
erto it  has  done,  to  mankind  at  large,  it  will  be  (in  part) 
by  our  obtaining  some  more  enlarged  conceptions  of  the 
great  spiritual  economy  —  conceptions  such  as  may  im- 
part the  force  and  vividness  of  reality  to  our  faith  in 
things  unseen. 

But  we  turn,  at  present,  from  this  more  obscure  and 
difficult  branch  of  pneumatology,  which  must  always 
come  more  within  the  range  of  theology  than  of  science ; 
and  advert  to  that  other  branch  of  the  same  subject,  in 
relation  to  which  all  the  materials  are  under  our  eye, 
and  the  methods  of  proceeding  are  strictly  and  simply 
inductive. 

Now  whatever  may  be  the  prejudices  that  stand  in 
the  way  of  such  a  course  of  inquiry,  it  appears  that,  if 
our  object  be  to  analyze  the  mind,  and  to  learn  the  con- 
ditions arid  laws  that  attach,  severally,  to  its  faculties,  a 
scrutiny  of  our  personal  consciousness  is  but  one  of  the 
means  to  be  employed ;  and  indeed  it  is  now  acknow- 


OFANOTHERLIFE.  271 

ledged,  by  some  of  the  authorities  in  this  department  of 
philosophy,  that  an  attention  to  the  multifarious  deve- 
lopements  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  powers,  in  indivi- 
dual minds,  is  advantageous,  or  indispensable,  for  com- 
pleting our  intellectual  science ;  and  that  it  is  by  com- 
paring these  various  facts  with  our  own  consciousness, 
that  either  is  to  be  understood.  Thus  while  the  method 
of  analysis  and  abstraction  interprets  the  facts  collected 
by  observation,  these  enlarge  and  define  the  results  of 
analysis. 

But  what  principle,  admitted  as  good  in  any  other  de- 
partment of  science,  will  justify  our  confining  our  view 
to  human  nature,  while  mind  is  exhibiting  itself  under 
ten  thousand  modifications,  around  us]  All  the  rudi- 
ments of  the  mental  constitution,  as  more  fully  develop- 
ed in  man,  meet  our  eye  and  invite  our  curiosity  in  the 
inferior  species  ;  and  it  would  seem  to  be  the  most  na- 
tural, and  the  most  auspicious  course  of  inquiry,  to  begin 
at  the  lower  part  of  the  scale  of  intelligence,  and  to 
make  ourselve  familiar,  first,  with  the  simpler  forms  of 
the  percipient,  voluntary,  and  reasoning  principle.  A 
mere  arrogance  surely,  as  if  intellectual  philosophy  were 
degraded  by  taking  its  first  steps  on  so  low  a  path, 
should  not  be  allowed  to  have  its  influence  with  those 
who  have  learned  the  logic  of  modern  science.  Shall 
the  chemist  pursue  his  inquiries,  only  so  far  as  may  be 
done  by  examining  the  nobler  elements  —  heat,  light, 
electricity,  the  precious  metals,  and  the  diamond ;  but 
stop  when  it  would  be  necessary  to  soil  his  hands  with 
earths  ? 

There  is,  however,  a  branch  of  intellectual  philosophy, 
or  we  would  rather  say  of  pneumatology,  in  relation  to 
which  an  extensive  and  laborious  examination  of  the  cor- 


272  PHYSICAL     THEORY 

poreal  mental  structure  of  the  various  sentient  tribes  — 
our  fellows  in  animal  organization,  seems  to  be  impera- 
tively demanded,  and  promises  to  yield  very  important 
results.  Once  and  again,  in  the  course  of  this  essay, 
the  author  has  had  occasion  to  refer,  hastily,  to  the  sub- 
ject which  he  will  now  endeavour,  somewhat  more  dis- 
tinctly to  express, 

It  is  well  understood  that  mental  philosophy  should 
be  pursued  irrespectively  of  any  theory  we  may  enter- 
tain concerning  the  structure  or  functions  of  the  brain  ; 
and  that  the  deductions  and  the  distinctions  which  con- 
stitute this  science  must  be  precisely  such  as  they  are, 
whatever  opinion  we  may  adopt  in  reference  to  the  purely 
physical  question  of  the  dependence  of  the  mind  upon 
animal  organization.  This  granted,  it  is  yet  certain 
that  we  must  return  to  the  subject  of  animal  organiza- 
tion when  the  important  controversy  is  entered  upon 
concerning  the  independent  reality  and  immateriality  of 
the  mind,  and  when  we  have  to  deal  with  the  opinion, 
that  mind  is  nothing  but  a  function  of  the  animal  struc- 
ture ;  or  that  thought  and  perception  are  products  of  the 
medullary  mass,  just  as  the  bilious  secretion  is  the  pro- 
duct of  the  liver. 

In  opposition  to  any  such  opinions,  we  may  either 
take  the  course  of  metaphysical  argument,  and  show 
that  the  soul  must  be  a  simple,  indiscerptible  substance, 
immaterial,  and  immortal ;  or  we  may  take  the  moral 
and  religious  course  of  argument,  and  prove  from  the 
instincts,  the  anticipations,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  that  it  must  be  altogether  superior  to  the 
body,  and  must  be  its  survivor.  But  now,  in  pursuing 
the  first  of  these  lines  of  argument  (and  indeed,  the  se- 
cond in  part)  we  find  ouselves  entangled  in  some  conse- 


OP    ANOTHER    LIFE.  273 

quences  not  easily  avoided  or  disposed  of,  in  relation  to 
the  inferior  tribes  of  the  animated  world,  inasmuch  as  the 
reasoning  we  employ,  and  the  principles  we  assume,  will 
almost  inevitably  stretch  an  inference  as  far  as  to  include 
every  species  of  beings  that  perceives,  and  acts,  and 
that  is  wrought  upon  by  emotions  allied  to  those  we  call 
moral.  It  must  indeed  be  confessed  that  the  argument 
of  the  im materialist,  as  sometimes  conducted,  if  pushed 
to  its  consequences,  would  go  near  to  imply  the  immor 
tality  of  birds,  beasts,  fishes,  insects,  and  zoophytes! 

Happily  however  there  is  another  course  open  to  us  ; 
and  in  the  first  place  (which  we  may  well  afford  to  do) 
let  us  get  completely  clear  of  all  the  embarrassments 
alluded  to  above,  by  ceasing  to  seek  for  any  aid  in  es- 
tablishing the  immortality  of  the  human  soul,  from  the 
doctrine  of  its  immateriality,  or  spirituality,  or  indepen- 
dence of  matter.  Man  we  believe  to  be  immortal  (rev- 
elation apart)  not  because  his  mind  is  separable  from 
animal  organization ;  but  because  his  intellectual  and 
moral  constitution  is  such  as  to  demand  a  future  devel- 
opement  of  his  nature.  Why  should  that  which  is  imma- 
terial be  indestructible  ?  None  can  tell  us ;  and  on  the 
contrary,  we  are  free  to  suppose  that  there  may  be  im- 
material orders,  enjoying  their  hour  of  existence,  and 
then  returning  to  nihility. 

But  now,  taking  up  the  hypothesis  that  animal  life,  in 
all  its  kinds  —  every  being  that  has  consciousness,  per- 
ception, and  voluntary  motion,  possesses  a  principle 
totally  distinct  from  the  animal  tissue,  and  the  animal 
functions  —  a  principle  strictly  immaterial  (although 
perhaps  always  in  fact  combined  with  some  kind  of  cor- 
poreal congestion  of  elements)  then  it  will  remain  to 
bring  this  doctrine  to  the  test  of  facts ;  and  perhaps  we 


274  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

may  be  able  to  bring  it  to  the  test  of  experiment.  In 
doing  so  it  is  clear  that  our  methods  of  inquiry  will  be 
most  exempt  from  exception,  and  our  conclusion  the 
most  decisive,  if  we  carry  on  the  investigation,  chiefly, 
on  the  field  of  inferior  animal  life.  If  on  this  field  we 
make  good  our  ground,  every  thing  will  be  secured,  as 
by  anticipation,  or  a  fortiori. 

And  not  merely  will  there  be  an  argumentative  ad- 
vantage in  establishing  the  doctrine  of  the  independence 
of  mind,  on  the  broader  and  lower  basis  of  merely  animal 
existence,  but  the  almost  infinitely  varied  structures  of 
the  animated  tribes  around  us,  will  be  found  to  offer 
many  instances  of  so  striking  and  decisive  a  kind,  as 
will  hardly  allow  of  a  choice  of  opinions,  but  will  compel 
us  to  adopt  a  belief  such  as  must  utterly  exclude  the 
opinion  of  the  materialist.  If  the  human  animal  struc- 
ture may  leave  us  in  doubt,  we  shall  scarcely  find  it 
possible  to  hesitate  when  we  come  to  examine  the  struc- 
ture and  physiology  of  inferior  species  :  we  may  perhaps 
be  perplexed  in  considering  the  question  of  the  immate- 
riality or  rather  independence  of  the  human  mind,  but 
shall  be  relieved  of  all  difficulty  in  examining  the  animal 
mechanism  of  insects  and  worms. 

There  are  those  probably,  who  would  not  wish  even 
to  see  the  materialist  confuted,  if  it  must  be  on  the 
strange  and  offensive  condition  —  a  condition  so  deroga- 
tory to  the  dignity  of  man,  of  our  acknowledging  a  broth- 
erhood of  mind,  such  as  shall  include  the  polypus,  the 
sea  jelly,  and  the  animalcule  of  a  stagnant  pool.  But 
science  knows  of  no  aversions ;  and  must  hold  on  its 
way,  through  evil  report  and  good  report.  Truth,  in 
the  end,  will  not  fail  to  justify  itself,  in  all  its  consequen- 
ces and  relations. 


OF    ANOTHER     LIFE.  275 

The  line  of  investigation  necessary  for  doing  justice 
to  our  present  hypothesis,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
mark  out.  Let  the  muscular  power  be  first  considered 
and  a  copious  comparison  of  structures  be  instituted, 
such  as  should  support  a  rational  conclusion  concerning 
the  process,  and  the  mechanism  by  which  it  is  effected  : 
as  thus  — 

In  all  cases  of  muscular  movement,  a  connexion, 
either  with  the  brain,  or  with  a  ganglion,  sustaining  the 
same  office,  by  the  means  of  the  nervous  chords,  is  in- 
dispensable :  —  except  when  the  limb  is  supplied  with 
galvanic  excitement  in  an  artificial  manner;  in  which 
case  motion  ensues  ;  but  it  is  motion  of  one  sort  only  5 
namely  a  convulsive  contraction  of  the  stronger  muscle 
or  muscles,  in  each  antagonist  set.  Now  this  exceptive 
case,  accidentally  made  known  to  us,  naturally  suggests 
the  belief  that,  what  the  brain  supplies  is  —  galvanic  ex- 
citement merely ;  or  a  stimulus,  of  whatever  kind,  equiv- 
alent to  that  furnished  by  galvanism.  We  are  then  to 
seek  for  the  cause  of  discriminative  motion ;  or  for  the 
cause  of  those  movements  in  which  the  stronger  muscles 
remain  at  rest,  while  the  weaker  are  called  into  action. 
Does  then  the  brain  supply,  not  only  the  chemical  stim- 
ulus of  contractility,  but  also  the  directive  or  discrimina- 
tive power,  which  acts  upon  certain  muscles,  and  holds 
others  in  suspension?  Now  beside  the  abstract  im- 
probability of  this  double  function  of  the  same  viscus, 
we  find,  upon  examining  the  structure  and  arrangement 
of  the  nervous  chords,  in  all  species,  that  while  they  are 
admirably  fitted  for  discharging  the  office  of  conveying 
a  stimulus  indiscriminately  to  the  limbs,  they  cannot, 
without  the  highest  difficulty,  be  considered  as  the  chan- 
nels of  distinct  volitions  to  particular  muscles.  The 


276  PHYSICAL    THEORY 

one  purpose  speaks  itself  in  their  construction;  the 
other  is  as  plainly  contradicted  and  excluded.  Espe- 
cially does  this  impracticability  strike  us  in  the  nervous 
economy  of  certain  of  the  inferior  classes  of  the  anima- 
ted world. 

In  the  general  scheme  then  of  muscular  motion,  we 
have  clearly  before  us  the  several  constituents  —  all  but 
one.  There  is  the  bony  fulcra  or  leverage,  with  its 
hinges  ;  —  the  muscular  fibre,  banded  together,  secured 
to  its  attachments,  and  supplied  with  blood ;  and  there 
is  the  nervous  net  work,  conveying,  from  the  brain  or 
spinal  process,  the  stimulus  which  produces  the  vehe- 
ment contraction  of  the  fleshy  tissue.  But  in  all  this 
we  yet  want  the  principal  agent,  namely  that  power 
which  determines  the  kind,  and  the  direction  of  the 
movement  that  in  each  instance  is  to  ensue.  Does  this 
agency  come  from  the  brain  ?  The  conclusion  we  an- 
ticipate is  that  it  does  not ;  inasmuch  as  the  line  of  con- 
nexion is  not  at  all  adapted  to  any  such  purpose.  Does 
there  then  remain  within  the  animal  apparatus,  any  sys- 
tem of  vessels,  or  any  gland,  or  any  fluid,  not  otherwise 
occupied,  to  which  we  may  probably  assign  the  office  of 
determining  motion?  There  is  none  ;  and  we  therefore 
attribute  the  determination  immediately  >  to  a  power  dis- 
tinct from,  and  independent  of,  the  visible  structure :  — 
that  is  to  say  the  MIND,  present  throughout  the  body,  and 
acting  and  feeling,  wherever  present,  by  its  inherent 
faculty  in  relation  to  matter. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  our  hypothesis  is  open  to 
a  special  mode  of  attestation,  or  refutation,  by  the  means 
of  the  various  accidents  that  affect  the  muscular  power, 
in  consequence  of  disease.  Thus  all  the  facts  connected 
with  convulsive  and  spasmodic  affections,  on  the  one 


OF     ANOTHER     LIFE. 

hand,  and  with  paralysis  and  leipothymic  states  of  the 
system,  on  the  other,  or  with  delirium,  and  insanity,  and 
febrile  excitement,  will,  if  fairly  considered,  either  con- 
firm or  exclude  the  theory  we  adopt.  Besides  these 
methods,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  experiments,  such  as 
should  be  almost  of  a  decisive  kind. 

From  the  examination  of  the  muscular  system,  we 
should  advance  to  consider  the  mechanism  of  sensation. 
The  organ  of  sense  and  the  brain,  are  connected  by  a 
chord :  there  is  therefore  doubtless  a  communication 
going  on  from  the  one  to  the  other.  But  what  is  it  that 
is  conveyed  ;  and  in  which  direction  does  the  current 
flow?  It  is  said  that  sensations  are  transmitted  from  the 
organ  to  the  brain ;  —  the  stream  therefore  is  in  a  direc- 
tion contrary  to  that  which  takes  place  in  effecting  mus- 
cular motion ;  for  in  that  case,  the  volition  flows  down 
from  the  brain  to  the  extremities.  But  according  to  our 
hypothesis,  the  course  of  the  current  is  the  same  in  both 
cases ;  and  the  influence  conveyed  is  also  the  same. 
That  is  to  say,  we  assume  that  the  brain  supplies  the 
organ  with  galvanic  excitement,  and  nothing  else  ;  just 
as  it  supplies  the  muscular  fibres  with  galvanic  excite- 
ment, and  nothing  else,  and  that,  as  the  mind,  in  the 
limb,  determines  motion,  so  the  mind,  in  the  organ, 
admits  sensation.  Sensation,  as  we  suppose,  takes 
place  at  the  tangential  point  or  surface,  where  the  exter- 
nal vibration  gives  rise  to  a  vibration  upon  the  nervous 
expansion. 

With  a  view  of  determining  the  question,  as  here 
stated,  we  should  first  examine  the  sense  of  touch,  and 
must  profess  the  conviction  that  the  arrangement  and 
reticulation  of  the  nerves  of  feeling  are  such  as  to  render 
the  supposition  of  the  conveyance  of  distinct  local  sen- 


PHYSICAL     THEORY 

sations,  from  the  surface  of  the  body  to  the  brain,  in  the 
highest  degree  ineligible ;  while  the  hypothesis  of  a  mere 
conveyance  of  excitement,  from  the  brain  to  the  surface, 
and  of  the  immediate  presence  of  the  percipient  faculty, 
at  the  point  of  sensation  is  rendered  almost  certain. 

If,  on  an  extensive  comparison  of  facts,  permanent 
and  accidental,  this  were  admitted,  the  same  hypothesis 
would  not  be  denied  in  relation  to  the  other  organs  of 
sensation ;  and  thus,  instead  of  an  organ  despatching  vo- 
litions, and  receiving  sensations,  we  should  have,  in  the 
brain,  a  secreting  viscus  merely ;  and  we  should  then  at- 
tribute sensation,  volition,  consciousness,  and  power, 
not  to  an  animal  organ,  but  to  the  MIND,  natively  fraught 
with  power,  active  and  passive  —  to  the  mind,  linked  in- 
deed to  the  animal  structure,  but  suffused  throughout  it, 
and  constituting  the  LIFE. 

The  hypothesis  we  have  here  stated  is  surely  suscep- 
tible of  being  brought  to  the  test  of  facts,  in  the  ordinary 
modes  of  scientific  inquiry.  Its  consequences  perhaps, 
if  established,  might  be  more  extensive  and  various  than 
at  first  they  may  appear.  At  least  they  would  not  fail  to 
place  Pneumatology  on  a  firmer  and  a  broader  basis ; 
and  so  to  open  the  way  for  enlarged  and  definite  concep- 
tions of  the  great  Spiritual  Economy  of  the  universe. 


THE   END. 


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